Fracturing & fluidity, isolation & (dis)integration: mapping ecological islands & edges in painting & music

ABSTRACTThe author’s watercolor maps capturing the inherently spatial, heterogeneous experiences of ecological islands and edges, and musical map evoking a multifaceted journey through an ‘archipelago’ of island ecosystems, aim to convey the increasing fragility and ‘preciousness’ of these slivers of the natural world. But simultaneously, the maps unintentionally begin to muddle this simplistic conception of ecological isolation and stability. The paintings’ fractured compositions and external frames appear to freeze and distance islands in space and time, but as the fragments multiply they also immerse the viewer in the geography and suggest ecological dynamism. The musical map has a similarly multifaceted structure, but it is mainly qualities of fluidity and cohesion, along with sound’s fundamentally non-descriptive, temporal nature, that objectify the island in some ways and in others produce an immersive, energizing effect. In future cartographic work, the author expects to more consciously engage rather than to resolve this tension between isolation and integration. But as a viewer/listener impression that is ultimately itself the ‘object’ of the maps, the islands’ imagined state of timelessness and preciousness is in fact a manifestation of their inseparability from humanity and the wider world – and therefore an image with reality and value of its own.ABSTRAITELes cartes à l'aquarelle de l'auteur, qui saisissent les expériences spatiales et hétérogènes des îles et lisières écologiques, ainsi que la carte musicale ‘The Last Island' qui évoque un voyage aux multiples facettes au travers un ‘archipel' d'écosystèmes insulaires, ont pour objectif de transmettre la fragilité et la ‘préciosité' de ces éclats du monde naturel. Mais en même temps, les cartes commencent involontairement à brouiller cette conception simpliste d'un isolement et d'une stabilité écologiques. Les compositions fracturées et les cadres extérieurs de ces peintures semblent figer et éloigner les îles dans l'espace et le temps., mais à mesure que les fragments se multiplient, ils immergent également l'observateur dans la géographie et suggèrent un dynamisme écologique. La carte musicale a une structure multifacette similaire, mais ce sont surtout les qualités de fluidité et de cohésion, associées à la nature fondamentalement non descriptive et temporelle du son, qui objectivent l'île en quelque sorte, et produisent un effet immersif énergisant. L'auteur s'attend à un engagement plus conscient plutôt que de résoudre la tension entre isolement et intégration. Mais comme l'impression de l'observateur/auditeur qui est en fin de compte elle–même « l'objet » des cartes, l'état imaginaire d'intemporalité et de préciosité des îles est en réalité une manifestation de leur inséparabilité de l'humanité et d’un monde en général – et donc une image qui a une réalité et une valeur qui lui est propre.KEYWORDS: Art in cartographymusical mappingnarrative cartographyenvironmental imaginationisland representation AcknowledgementsI would like to thank Carolina Aragon, Aaron Brown, Andreana Rosnik, and Ling-Yun Tang for reviewing this manuscript, and Richard Register for picking up on the element of ecological dynamism in the painted maps that I had originally failed to perceive.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 I mean ‘ecological islands’ in terms of relatively intact ecosystems, surrounded by contrasting environments that can be naturally-formed themselves (as with a desert oasis or oceanic atoll) or human-created (as with an urban forest). ‘Archipelagos’ of these islands can be dispersed within a sea of water or of developed land but also contiguous, like an intricate pattern of vegetation zones on a mountainside.2 In landscape ecology (Forman, Citation1995) an edge refers to the outer zone of a landscape element with a different species composition than its interior. I use it here in a more general, non-technical sense covering any line or zone surrounding or separating islands.3 In describing physical geographies, whether physical in the real world or in the mind, these works are representational (and cartographic) as well as expressive. In the case of the musical map, as will be explained further, representational ability is reliant on external cues and so technically refers to the total experience rather than the sound alone.4 For this reason I typically do not describe the watercolor maps as ‘paintings,’ but do so in this paper to distinguish them from the musical cartography.5 Since the view fragments are oriented in different directions, in theory the overall compositions can also be rotated. Usually, though, one or two orientations are preferred for reasons of balance and proper reading of shadows.6 The non-rectangular shapes of the fragments, usually a byproduct of working out the desired spatial relationships, also disrupt the sense of traditional framed, scenic views.7 Discussing Corner and MacLean’s ‘map-drawings’ (Citation1996) juxtaposing aerial photographs with other images using different scales and perspectives, Julia Czerniak (Citation1998, pp. 112–13) notes a similar breaking down of the ‘privileged viewpoint’ from above.8 In reference to ‘wilderness’ in particular, Abbott (Citation2008) describes how even purely aerial views (and their cartographic annotations) can contain some indication of this embodied experience. He describes historical maps that do (and contemporary maps that might) – through informal layering of information, non-standardized graphics, and distortion of scales – convey in a single image the personal accumulation of environmental knowledge and experience.9 The photomontages that evolved into the fractured watercolors were more ‘accretive’ given that they began with landscape perspectives rather with an aerial context in which to fit those perspectives.10 As will be noted again later, a future musical map might be more deliberate about the way non-musical cues are incorporated.11 This is just one example of many spatial references in music including high and low pitches, large and small intervals, and texture or thickness (Morgan, Citation1980).12 Pierson (Citation2015) notes the significance of the individual’s imagination and agency in music specifically in terms of melody – an abstraction of the singing human voice.Additional informationNotes on contributorsDarren SearsDarren Sears is a San Francisco-based artist-cartographer and composer; he holds a Master in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and previously spent over a decade in professional design practice. He is represented by Hang Art Gallery in San Francisco.