(Explorer306/OL26) in Marylebone Journal
"I wanted to do something that would reflect the local area" says Newcastle-based artist Rachael Clewlow, reflecting on the premise behind this painting-a beautiful info graphic which uses acrylic and silverpoint to map Middlesborough's old iron ore trade routes. During the 1800s, coal and iron production in the area expanded exponentially, turning what had been a hamlet into a major city at the forefront of the country's rapid industrialisation.
After extensive research the Teeside archives, Rachael was able to reconstruct the journeys made by miners into and out of the city. Many of the routes are now disused, so her research took her into unknown areas: from urban to suburban, to rural, over the moors and out to the coast. Rachael then plotted a total of nine walks using tracing paper placed over Ordnance Survey maps, embellished with information collected on her walks-"It could be anything: from a monument, to graffiti, to a pair of pants on the road:.
The data has been colour-coded to create an accompanying key, which is equally arresting on the eye. The horizontal lines of the key correspond with the colour of the circles on the map. "The outer circle is always the opposite, complimentary colour of the inner," Rachael explains, "but the size and the tone of the circles are left to intuition and often change as I move through the painting."
133.52 miles walked, Map (Explorer 306/0L26) will feature alongside the key as part of jaggedart's Ramblings exhibition, which also features works from artists Mercedes Castro Corbat, Monica Fierro, Ashraf Hanna and Tom Henderson.
RAMBLINGS
26th March - 25th April
jaggedart
28a Devonshire Street, W1G 6PS
02074867374