Memory, place and loss; reflected through a walk in Meanwood ridge

Meanwood Ridge is natural stretch of land in Leeds which sits amid industrial buildings in a dense city. The long walk gives view to British countryside, oak trees, foliage, rivulets and British fauna. It is at places like these where one often comes to escape and reflect. One’s memories of ‘place’ shape the view and association related to the objects related to an area. This body of work looks at a walk through Meanwood ridge, and how loss is reflected through the foliage, along with the remnants of human activity which are often left and forgotten.

Ian Biggs’ Deep mapping as a practice is a conscious movement through landscape, with an awareness of place, time and environment. Deep mapping is involved in this walk, where the remnants of the journey in forms of drawings, found objects, pictures and even conversations are used to convey ‘place’. Using pigments made from berries and drawing utensils in the form of sticks, rocks and leaves: place and material as bound as one. Inspiration for the mark making comes from Juan Miro’s process of ‘automated drawing’, along with his abstract expressionist prints.

Freud's theory of deferred action states: “memory is reprinted, so to speak, in accordance with later experience”. Conceptually, the drawings and prints are concerned with memories of loss projected through the surroundings while in the act of walking. A cluster of overlapped posters found on the walk serve as Chine-collé, as both a reminder of place and the ‘forgotten’. Compositionally, they serve to assimilate or clash with the natural forms, as posters often due in rural walks.