Mono-printing our telephone journeys
Southampton-based artist, Joey Walters has been commissioned to run a series of family-friendly art sessions at John Hansard Gallery for our project. We are delighted to be working with Joey, based at Arches Studios, who is devising art activities exploring young people’s telephone use.
In the first Space to Create! session linked to the project, Joey showed families how to create a mono-print using paint to illustrate the journeys we go on with our phones. The idea was to visualise the way our phones physically travel (in our bag or pocket), and how this connects us to wider networks.
Using maps of Southampton, participants traced lines between points where they had used their phone, and journeys they had taken with their phone. The prints were created using coloured inks to show abstract coloured lines that represented the connections made by phone use.
Spreading the ink with the roller was a particular hit amongst young participants at the sessions! As art galleries have begun to re-open again following the second Covid-19 lockdown, the workshop also offered families a space to come into to spend time together making something.
Creating the mono-prints prompted participants to reflect in different ways about the scales of our phone use today – how a phone can connect people across the extent of a city – and the degree to which we rely on technology, not only for talking to friends and loved ones, but also for navigating our daily lives. Mapping where they travelled with their phone also encouraged participants to think about how they move around Southampton – by bike, on foot, on public transport, or car.
Space to Create! sessions linked to the project are happening at John Hansard Gallery until September 2021; they are free and open to everyone.
