Lindsey Drury – dancer, writer, historian, researcher, and co-facilitator of the Praxis of Social Imaginaries study circle – became my second interviewee in Mapping Praxis. Born in Seattle (USA), her itinerary encompasses places in America, Asia, and Europe; the City and the Sea as well as the Desert.
Lindsey’s Itinerary
Lindsey’s travel pattern differs from Frank’s, yet there are similarities… The interviews I’ve carried out so far in Mapping Praxis hint at some common features; tentatively, I attribute particular colours and materials to shared experiences – such as danger, falsehood, connectedness, legacy, friendship, love, death, spiritual/intellectual development, clarity…
In addition, I try to find – or craft – visualizations of the uniqueness of certain places.
As for Mapping Praxis as a whole, I wish to place this work in the tradition of critical mapping and counter-cartographies; I’ve been inspired by, among others, the German kollektiv orangotango and their project This Is Not An Atlas – which explicitly aims to “support /…/ actors who instigate social change by prefiguring social alternatives” and to “learn /…/ how to initiate emancipatory processes from below”. This resonates deeply with me. I also feel encouraged, and learn, from the results of many workshops presented on the Not An Atlas‘ website – especially the mappings titled Counter Cartographies of Exile, and Materiality Language of Cartography.
My next interlocutor will be Robertho Paredes – photographer and filmmaker from Puerto Maldonado (Peru), and fellow participant in Praxis of Social Imaginaries study circle. To be continued…
Helena Hildur W. 