A Tapestry of Memories
I took an online short-course recently with The Open College of the Arts which included a mapping activity:
Think of a place that you can recall strongly to your memory. It should hold some significance to you.
Can you remember what it felt like to be there?
What sounds do you recall when you think of being in that place?
What memories or associations do you have of this place?On paper, create a map of that place in any way you choose. Be as free as you like, it does not need to be to scale. You are not being assessed on your artistic skills or map making abilities.
So I drew a memory-map (in pencil, ink and paper) of my childhood 'place' – a map which owed a lot to another childhood memory, one of Pooh, Piglet, Christopher Robin, A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard's map of the Hundred Acre Wood.
And I must have had this in mind when I dipped back into this project last week because that's when the penny dropped.
I'd already made a note of a lot of my memories – I just had to start mapping them.
Memories of Ian talking about the Redmayn effigies; walking into Bath Abbey during organ practice; seeing elusive beams of ‘dust-light’ in St Helen’s Church, York; listening to the choir in Norwich Cathedral on our 40th wedding anniversary; seeing the ‘There But Not There’ war memorial in Leeds Minster, wall paintings in Pickering and Paston; stopping to help someone put out chairs for a meeting …
Mapping Memories
It's about memories; and the sound of organ practice, the smell of incense, the hum of a service. It's about constancy, stability and tranquillity; it’s about slowing down, taking stock, seeing, breathing; about soothing dis-ease; a sanctuary on turbulent days.
A rich tapestry of memories.