paint swatch walk

I began my walk from the Jackson L stop at 4:04. I had no plan of where I was going to go and I had only been to a few buildings in this area before. It is humid and the air feels sticky. I walk down the streets surrounding the L and focus on the colors I see. If a street doesn’t seem appealing to me or is not very colorful, I turn around and walk a different way.

The first paint swatch that I found objects for was a peachy-pink color.

Object 1:

I found this sign at the Jackson L stop and thought it closely matched my first paint swatch. I stopped abruptly to take a picture and the person behind me almost ran into me. There were lots of noises around me, people chattering and footsteps. It smelled like garbage and smoke.

Object 2:

I picked this flower on South Wabash from a pretty flower box outside a commercial building. I saw these flowers from across the street and had to cross the street to get closer. I picked one and put it in my pocket. This street was noisy and people rushed past me even when I slowed down for a second. I noticed a man wearing a neon green tracksuit. It smelled like plants and fresh air, better than the L.

The next paint swatch I focused on was a dark blue color.

Object 3:

I saw a sketchy duffel bag by itself on a street corner and noticed it matched my second paint swatch. I watched it for a minute and saw nobody around it. I wondered who left it there and why. Nobody seemed to notice it, people just stepped around it and kept their heads up. Since it seemed kind of suspicious I didn’t want to hang out around it for too long so I turned the corner and walked down East Van Buran.

Object 4:

This blue mail drop box on South Wabash also reminded me of my paint swatch. When I stopped to take a picture of it, I received some confused looks. People seemed annoyed that I was stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to take a picture of something so ordinary. After taking this picture, I turned around and a tourist who wasn’t paying attention almost struck me in the face with his selfie stick. I noticed it was starting to get darker and it suddenly began raining.

It is now 4:39 when I find myself back at the Jackson stop. People around me hurry to get out of the rain and my clothes and hair are damp. On my ride back, I think about the differences between doing walking journals in Lincoln Park vs. the Loop. I find it much more difficult in the Loop because there is so much going on, I know that I can’t notice everything. There are also more people, especially at the time that I chose to go. This makes it harder to focus on noticing things because you have to be more aware of where you are going. Wandering and pausing in the street to look at something is not encouraged by this environment.

In “Ce n’est pas le monde,” Krygier and Wood encourage us to challenge maps and rethink how we define them. They define a map as an abstract proposition and a “man-made truth.” The creator of a map makes choices about what or what not to include and viewers must take this into consideration. They also argue that because of this, those making maps must take responsibility for the realities they create. To me, a map is a visual representation of a space. A map relates to the world it depicts because by creating a map, one can create a new perception of an area based on the way they design it. This can change people’s views of an area and sometimes give them a jaded perspective. People use maps to attempt to understand an area. However, it is impossible to actually understand an area by just looking at it from above. In order to see the true reality of a place, one must immerse themselves in it. (167)

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