Do you know the way? is an experimental work, It does not operate in the fashion of conventional literature or prose. It does actually, in fact, sometimes occupy the space of the knowingly obtuse. The idea of this being that the work would sacrifice understanding in order to attain a sense of greater truth, in some sort of shaman like operation.
This is the space that needs to be reclaimed by artists who deal emotively and intuitively with language, narrative and tradition. I mean tradition not in a cynical ironical sense, but as defined as a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. this is not about any reverence to this, but a delight in the froth of the traditional function eg. impractical but socially meaningful clothes, the oddities of regional language variation; stories and language as texture of the past. Here are some examples of artists who have successfully engaged in this type of thing who also sometimes sacrifice shared understanding in order to attain a sense of greater truth:
Don Van Vliet, that is Captain Beefheart, in his music not his painting.
The wasteland by TS Eliot.
Victoria Station and other radio plays by Harold Pinter
Clarence Ashley and the deep subconscious metaphor of his song the Coo Coo Bird that even he may not of been aware of. Although I think he was.
Adam Curtis' 2009 film it felt like a kiss,which is, in fact, like all of his work, easy to read.
Moving on, here is my map, Do You Know The Way?
In order to understand how I understand the map maybe I should clarify my dyslexic shorthand. What I have done here, is separated the map into different "spheres of influence" to borrow a term from the old imperial scramble for africa type of thing. In my case these " spheres of influence" are the different masses of text in combination with imagery with the way I see them externally resonating, or influencing the reader.
The cross in my map of my map is in substitute for jesus christ and his story. He sits in the traditional Mappa mundi position at the top of the map. He and his stories off shoots represent “the world built around the old story". This is the narrative that we cannot escape - even though he no longer sits at the top of our modern maps his presence is implied by this absence. Following from this central story, the whole top part of the map represents a type of static old world. The red line flowing from the United States In the top half, turns in the misunderstood mythological Eagle / goose which for me represents a bridge to the future, though our romanticising of the brutal past. When we do this we always get it wrong, ( Celtic style tattoos on the arm of essex bodybuilder ). Anyway from here it moves towards the new story, entering the bottom half, in this case a new Joseph and Mary. The red line then takes us to Castro and the story of potential future, a completely absurd story. The whole bottom part of the map is an implied perhaps ironical criticism of the sense of doom that our culture seems to so delight in. I don't think we need another terminator movie. Although I think it's a good thing that he has retired from politics. Within this almost self-defeating criticism I tried to offer up new hope at the peripheries of the map. with the story of mary in the bottom left half.
This I should say is my reading of the work, this reading is essential to the construction of the map, but completely unnecessary in the reading of the work. In fact this externalising literal exploration may get in the way of the shamen-like operation thing I was trying to define earlier on in this post. Break the spell so to speak, but that is always the concern.
Despite the map being constructed with the idea of an open reading involved, there is still a path of the best intent when it comes to picking up the narrative of the map. Even with an open reading there is always my imposed reasoning behind the construction of the work. in the same way, I can not claim myself to be impartial reader, I could not claim to be an impartial creator. There is a sort of best sequence to read things in. I have attempted to illustrate this 'best sequence' in the red and grey map below the map. The starting point for this best sequence would have to be the top left corner then inwards then spiralling outwards, it is basically the boldest red lines.
If this does constitute what I see as the best sequence for reading, Then when it comes to screen printing the map maybe I can take away some of the colours, reduce the map to a three colour print. This new three colour constraint should help in clarifying things, tone down the noisiness of the piece.
I think I need to unify the flow of the line in one color get rid of the red line on the right hand side.
After the initial TA DA moment when opening, the map cannot afford to be so noisy.
