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Muthaiga Art Beat
PUTTING ART ON THE MAP
MCC Member Peter Blackwell turns Old Maps into New Art by Lisa Blackwell
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In today’s modern world of smart phones with GPS functions and Apps, maps no longer play a key role in travel. The ability to look over a vast area has shrunk, and the massive landmasses of Africa are reduced to a screen, only inches wide.
Where today you simply “drop a pin”, old maps contain individual markers and indicators, contours and boundaries and, for the individual, they hold places of personal interest – childhood homes, routes taken to work, safaris and adventures. These cyphers reveal not only the geography but also the intriguing history contained within these maps, and a nostalgia for travel and adventure. Though some maps are pristine with no marks, or folds, or even a reminder of a spilled drink or a brunch by termites, they all hold memories.
Artist Peter Blackwell has taken a new bearing in his work. By taking old maps of East Africa and painting something distinctive to the area onto them, he is creating beautiful pieces of art that stir memories and recognition.
Old maps awaken a nostalgia for days gone by, and with the addition of art that embraces the very integrity of each map, incorporating the map’s contours, colours and age, the final pieces are truly personal and can tell individual stories.
Retrieving old maps from the bottom of a drawer, gives them new life. By adding the unusual - a lion, a sunbird, or an ngalawa - it is transformed into something personal, yet fresh and uplifting for both cartophiles and art-lovers.
A seasoned African explorer can reminisce about specific places and times, and a younger onlooker can become interested, not only in the world of fine art, but also in the amazing history that can be found in the old maps.
Taking old charts and painting something relevant to the area on them, Peter turns old maps into new works of art, with the added dimension of personal history.
Peter (pictured left) accepts commissions for individualised maps. www. peterblackwellwildlifeartist.com
