During this spring I have been drawn to ways that the human body and human emotions can be explored using locative media. My initial thoughts were that this mapping form of art would be particularly useful when I begin working with queer community in the Dominican Republic, but I was having trouble envisioning the scope of this art form and the possibilities within it. In my online explorations of Locative Media, I have discovered some interesting ways that other artists are making conceptual bridges between different communities to help ignite communication, cooperation and understanding (which are definitely goals I have in creating my own work). As I came across artists who do just that (either through geographic or body mapping), I became more and more intrigued by the ways that I could utilize locative media in my own work. Two artists/deigners/works who I find very intriguing are: Shoot Me If You Can by the performance and new media artist Taeyoon Choi and Body Mapping as story and advocacy created by the designer Jane Solomon and implemented in CATIE workshops in Africa. Additionally, I’d like to touch upon my final project entitled TDoR Map, a locative project that utilizes the death statistics from the TransgenderDOR.org website and implements them into Google Earth.

In Taeyoon Choi’s work Shoot Me If You Can, the audience becomes players in Choi’s real-time, real-world interactive game. Players wear numbers on their chests and “shoot” at each other using their cellphone cameras. If the player actually “shoots” another player with their cell camera, they then load the picture up onto Flickr. One thing I love about this concept is that it’s not just another online war game that requires participants to stay indoors, but it brings people outside, away from their computers and encourages in-person interaction. It is also genius in its ability to bring what would ordinarily be a game of death into the realm of silly. To me, there is something exceptional about that; our world is no stranger to war and the fact that Choi has taken a device such as a cell phone and reinterpreted it to be a game device is inventive. Additionally, he is also playfully addressing the dwindling privacy concerns of our culture by making players spy and hunt eachother. A lot could be said about that and I would love to hear what the game was like from the players’ perspective.

Shoot me if you can (2005) performance video from Taeyoon Choi on Vimeo.

In the body mapping process used during CATIE workshops in Africa, created by Jane Solomon, locative media is less about an earth map and more about the map of a person’s life story. Specifically in this case, it’s about the stories of women with HIV or AIDS in Africa. The maps are literally tracings of each woman’s body, which each woman then fills in with symbolism and her personal story. These maps are particularly striking to me as they incorporate a therapeutic use of mapping, which is an aspect of locative media of which I am very interested. The ability of location art to name, place and quite literally identify that which previously seemed ineffable makes it a truly potent medium. More information about Solomon’s work with body mapping and the lives of those infected by HIV can be found here. She also has a project entitled Living With X and more info can be found about it here and here.

Lastly, in my upcoming project TDoR Map, I endeavor to explore aspects that both of the above artists incorporate into their work; namely bridging communities, creating cultural awareness and instigating a sense of catharsis within individuals and groups of people. This piece is the second in a new series of work I have planned to address the lives of those who identify outside of the gender and sexual binary.

My exploration of locative media arts this spring has been intriguing and has definitely encouraged me to further incorporate a locative layer into my work overall. As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, I hope to take what I’m learning about locative media and incorporate it into my future work with queer communities in the Caribbean. It is my belief that through the method of mapping, I can help overcome barriers of language, taboo and fear to bring a greater sense of relief, empathy and pride to individuals, families and cultures at large.