You Are Here Now

You Are Here Now is a map of my personal history. It is about the journey of my life and how I have gotten to where I am now.  This piece is an answer to the question, “how did I get here?”. My goal was to capture my path in life by reflecting on the places I have lived along with the people who have had an impact on my life. I also explore the significant events in my life at various times.

When I made a list of the important events in my life in seven year increments as Patti Digh in Geography of Loss suggests, I realized that many events that were pivotal were ones of loss through death, illness, anxiety, and depression. Other events are in extreme contrast, as they are events of great joy: my marriage to Scott, the birth of Hugo and Malcolm, completing graduate school.

By reflecting on what is actually on a map: streets, highways, rivers, borders, etc. I decided to take the elements of a map and use them as symbols to create my own personal journey. Highways became a way to represent how fast life seems to move. Small streets mark the slower pace of life and/or the more subtle events. Water sources (rivers and lakes) delineate tears shed over the course of my life.

To create this map, I looked at existing maps of the places I have lived and traveled. After making several drawings in my sketchbook, I took pieces from the actual places and spliced them together to create a new map of a new place. This map is meant to be any place to any body reading it. Hence the title, You Are Here Now. At the given moment that you are looking at this map,  you are here now.