Personal Cartographies – Year 2 Agnes Poitevin-Navarre and Jeremy Wood

Year 7 students worked with artists Jeremy Wood and Agnes Poitevin-Navarre to produce Personal Cartographies, part of Iniva’s Mapping Beyond exhibition series at Rivington Place.

The students explored their personal geographies and history through a series of discussions and exercises with the artists. They mapped their everyday activities, located family connections to national boundaries, thought about their tastes, hobbies, passions, their family roots and how the ethnicity of their friends is perceived.

The students then used this information – which forms their personal geographies – to create self-portraits using GPS drawing, collage and pictograms.

Finally, they researched and mapped out their family roots and the journey their ancestors made before their parents settled in Stoke Newington. The demographics of their circle of friends were also codified, making up the group piece in the project.

Personal Cartographies is part of Creative Mapping, a three-year learning initiative involving schools and colleges in East London.