Beneath The Map IV
2020
single channel moving image and stereo sound, 5 mins 8 sec
shot & edited by Bernadette Murray
music by Benjamin Riley
- - -
Hempstead’s paper-based practice is a unique form of navigation, “it’s a search for myself, my place, my connection to not only my surrounding environment, but the times we live in.”
Informally termed as memory sketches, the collection of works display the use of a repetitive mark-making technique, whereby Hempstead intricately slices into the surface of the paper. The delicate and precise incisions create three-dimensional surfaces reminiscent of bird flight patterns or ocean tidal sequences. This form of re-mapping allows Hempstead to explore what lies beneath the limitation of the map and western cartography to instead focus on the undulations of terrain, the warmth and texture of the ground. The influence of the walks through Australian bushland is echoed throughout her mappings.
Experienced in person, the work’s triangular cut shapes act as a sun-dial, time-lapsing the surrounding daylight and present an intimate visual experience.
front view of Beneath The Map IV
close up of Beneath The Map IV
side view of Beneath The Map IV
aerial view of Beneath The Map IV
close up of Beneath The Map IV
aerial of Beneath The Map IV
// PROCESS NOTES //
A total of 11 hours of cutting and folding - this work is a meditation on the paths I walked and places I visited over the 5-month span of following the 2019/2020 bushfires. The patterns are organic and intuitive, retracing where navigation, memory and a sense of place intercept.
In the video, the sounds are inspired by Schumann's Resonance - "if we are out of sync with Earth's Frequency (Schumann Resonance) we begin to exhibit signs of discomfort that can range from anxiety, insomnia, illness, suppressed immune etc; Conversely we have discovered that when humans are in sync with 7.83 the body is able to heal and increase its vitality."
I often listen to Schumann's Resonance music while in the process of making my work or on long drives through the country. I instinctively felt it needed to become an integral part of this work and on reflection and further research into SR, I feel that the sounds nourished the practice and vice versa.
Beneath The Map V - VII
A continuation of the body of work Beneath The Map
Beneath The Map V | mark-making on Arches archival cotton rag paper 300gsm | 77cm x 57cm
Beneath The Map VI | mark-making on Arches archival cotton rag paper 300gsm | 77cm x 57cm
Beneath The Map VII | mark-making on Arches archival cotton rag paper 300gsm | 77cm x 57cm