The concept behind this work began from exploring the idea of what it is to be a woman in the city.
How can a space like a city be formed in such a way that its architecture, how it is mapped out can not only affect how we move through that space, the choices we take but also our emotion. A city can feel like a very male space, a space that makes you feel vulnerable, uneasy. These reactions are brought on by how a city is designed, planned but also perceived. Another influence on us is the naming of the streets. Historically names were chosen to acknowledge esteemed people in business or high society, for example significant Architects, Doctors or the children of those significant. However after studying the street names of central London I found there was an imbalance of male to female names with the female names outweighed by male names, even though both sexes were as successful in their fields.
I plotted both the male and female roads and used this concept as a possible new way of mapping a space. Forming my own space free from the constraints of a city based in reality. Instead an imaginary place is formed, creating encounters between its inhabitants, forming crowds and scenarios. The maps to this imaginary space suggest possible modes of movement between each of the points. Movement is not bound by the body or by the every day but suggests a freedom of movement in the space of our imagination |