Mount Murals.
In exploring the relationship between art, memory, and place attachment, the study Exploring Embodied Place Attachment Through Co-Creative Art Trajectories: The Case of Mount Murals (Segers et al., 2021) offers insights that resonate with my current research. The paper highlights how art, when infused with personal and shared memories, can evoke a deep sense of place and belonging. These findings align with the approach I am currently trying to explore with my paintings and the research that influences them.
Place attachment is an emotional bond between a person and a specific location, rich with meaning and memory. This connection isn’t just about being physically present; it’s tied to feelings of comfort, security, and identity. In Mount Murals, a co-creative art project in Heist-op-den-Berg, participants engaged with their environment by incorporating personal objects and memories into shared art pieces. This process of embedding stories into visual art helped create a sense of community and personal connection that went beyond the individual artists (Segers et al., 2021).
While the study focused on group projects, I’m particularly interested in how similar emotional resonance can be created in solo work. The research suggests that sensory details, symbolism, and storytelling can evoke place attachment, even in individual art. This idea is crucial for my practice, where I aim to capture the interplay between natural and man-made elements and evoke feelings of belonging or nostalgia.
Reflecting on these findings, I am want to explore including elements that connect with personal and shared memory in my paintings. My art often features monochrome vistas and dramatic landscapes inspired by the Scottish Highlands and other places significant to me. Adding subtle details that tap into universal themes of home, isolation, and connection could strengthen the emotional impact of my work.
To echo the principles of co-creation from the study, I can use techniques that foster a sense of shared experience, even when working alone. For example:
Using symbols that resonate with broader cultural memories, like paths or architectural details that hint at stories of change and history.
Adding texture, shadow, and contrast to evoke sensory memories and make the scenes feel familiar and lived-in.
Creating layered imagery that allows viewers to weave their own stories into the piece, encouraging an emotional connection.
While the Mount Murals project benefited from group dynamics and shared experiences, individual art can also evoke deep emotional responses. The study supports the idea that our brains respond to depicted environments by sparking personal memories and emotions. This means that even if viewers have never visited the locations I paint, they can still feel a connection through familiar visual cues and shared human experiences.
The concept of relational resonating - feeling in tune with a place or others - is something I would like to capture in my work. By trying to embed my paintings with the emotional essence of places I have visited, combined with themes of cianalas (a deep longing or nostalgia for a place), I hope to create art that speaks to the viewer’s sense of memory and belonging.
The Mount Murals study shows that art can transform individual and shared experiences into collective emotional landscapes (Segers et al., 2021). As I continue my practice and research, these insights push me to deepen the sensory and symbolic elements in my paintings, helping them evoke place attachment and collective memory. This way, my work can connect the personal with the universal, inviting viewers to find their own stories within each scene.
References
Segers, R., Hannes, K., Heylighen, A., & Van den Broeck, P. (2021). Exploring Embodied Place Attachment Through Co-Creative Art Trajectories: The Case of Mount Murals. Social Inclusion, 9(4), 116-129. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v9i4.4403
