What I have decided:
-I am going to communicate the change of place through recording found unnatural objects (signs of human activity), plant and animal life, in set locations along Oakley Creek.
-These locations are still yet to be decided (I anticipate changes will be needed once I have visited these sites), but are suggested by map 2 in 'Mapping Oakley Creek,' a previous post. These 18 suggestions are marked according to where I anticipate a change of place (due to change of activity, type of location).
Problems still to solve:
-How will I define the parameters of each 'location'? will it be defined by 10 of my steps along the stream from a certain point? 5? 20?
-How will I map what I find at each location visually? Cross-section? Will this mean collecting measurements of depth, width, etc? Will I record where I find the objects?
-Plant life will be difficult for me to identify, and animal life difficult to find... how do I work around this?
-What type of media do I want to use for final presentation? Is it more suited to analogue or digital methods? Or a different kind of media?
Today I found a very exciting example by Muf architects on their blog: http://mufarchitectureart.blogspot.com/2008/04/date-tuesday-25.html. They have observed and documented a 19th century, condemned spoil pit called the Beckton Alp, in London. Firstly areas of interest were identified, then human activity in each area, signs of human activity (rubbish, etc), animal presence and human presence according to different weather conditions (see images below).
This puts into practice my idea about documenting found objects at certain locations along Oakley creek. I could tell how the creek is used in different places by what was found there (rubbish, insects, plant-life, animal-life, etc). I would have a 'master map' of the chosen locations, and detail each place in section. These sections juxtaposed would build an idea of what it would be like to selectively boat along the river, and would have implications to place. I would communicate the change of place through recording found unnatural objects (signaling human activity), plant and animal life, as I followed Oakley Creek.
