The Brief

Take a sketchbook on a journey, treating it as a visual log or scrapbook including objects actually collected on the journey.  Consider the physical properties of the objects which you have collected, their structure, design, how they are used, their permanence/impermanence, whether they are keepsakes or throwaways in nature, how they can be moved or manipulated, try viewing them from different angles, piling them up, pulling them apart.

Focus on the places where these objects were sourced and ask yourself how the objects themselves can be incorporated into an illustration of these places, using the drawing tools inventively.  How can they be used to capture the key moments or places where your objects were collected? 

Either draw or photograph the objects, including the photographs in your sketchbook, or incorporate some key elements of your physical objects into your work, building on these fragments to create some simple illustrations in a similar way that Steinberg and Niemann do in their work.

The sketchbook journey

We had to travel to the Northern Cape, driving in the car for most of the day.  I have taken my sketchbook with me and captured the drive in the car.

 I collected images along the way as we travelled.  We stopped to photograph the beautiful landscape and even spotted a donkey cart.

There was not much to collect besides grass and soil, so I decided to take photos and see what I could come up with.  The landscape is beautiful, with colours of gold and blue.  The Northern Cape is South Africa’s largest province.  It has red-sand desert landscapes and incredible wildlife. The temperature that day went as high as 39°C.

In the car, we are sealed off and protected from the outside environment.  We don’t feel the heat because we have aircon.  The landscape is flying past at a significant speed, and the windows block off any wind.

How different would this travelling experience be if we had to travel by foot?  I usually enjoy going for a run when we are travelling. I can better connect and observe the new environment when I am there in person, smelling the air and being face-to-face with whatever is around me.

Looking at the road we are travelling, I brainstormed how it connects us to the city.  How can this connection be illustrated?  Can I say it’s like apron strings, chains or an umbilical cord?  We always return to our city as if it has a hold on us.  Or can I say the road is like an arm stretched out to let us explore but brings us back home again?

I also brainstormed how to communicate the barrier between me and my environment while travelling in the car.   Christoph Niemann makes it look so easy to come up with new angles and connections, but it’s not easy.  I really have to think, explore and hope to find a connection and learn to become a better observer.

Considering different narratives

I want to portray a narrative that we are sealed off from our environment.  My first idea was to try something with blinders.  The same blinders that a horse would wear.  The donkeys are also wearing blinders, but I don’t know how to make the connection in this environment.

My next idea was to use the road as a river.  It can be a river for fish or sperm.  When it’s sperm, it is interesting how it changes the entire environment around it.  Now, we are thinking of a biological environment such as a womb.

The car can be a bubble or even a spaceship to exaggerate the disconnect with our environment.

That evening, I made two more sketches of the restaurant and a few thumbnail sketches of my ideas.

In the end, I have decided to go for the story Escaping from the City.  I was going for the idea of a swimmer emerging from the road.  The road is connected to the city and portrays ascending into tranquil surroundings with gold grass and no traffic. 

I am not convinced that the black gives the feel of water, and it will be worth doing more studies to explore the best way to illustrate water.  Although, concrete also works well, and we can leave it to the viewer to decide what they see.