Mapping Rhode Island

What do you think of when you hear the word “map”? Are you transported to your high school geography class and countless hours of memorization using index cards? To the days before GPS? What if that same word were to stand for more than just a cartographic representation of a location? What if “map” meant intimate memories, dear moments or collections of “firsts”? The first time you tried Del’s Lemonade, the first time you saw a giraffe at a zoo or the first time you swam in the ocean?

Capturing these memory maps is what Mapping Rhode Island is all about. You get a blank map of our state, wake up your creative side and get in touch with your inner artist.

You know the ability is there; you just have to access it. So pour yourself a mug of hot tea or coffee, and get to work. Better yet, grab some colorful pens and drive to your favorite coffee shop, where you can enjoy the warmth and the recognition while drawing the latte you’re drinking with cautious sips.

Or, if your skills are more suited to writing in cool block letters, go ahead, access that ability and print the name of the shop on the map. You brave ones are invited to attempt a logo. The point is – anything goes. If you’re stumped on what to include on your map, take a minute to jot down a list of thoughts that pop into your head when you think of Rhode Island. The guideline is – there’s no guideline. That’s the beauty of this project. You are an individual, so your map is going to be unique just as your fingerprints are.

Your “art” can consist of something as random as song lyrics. This is what our anonymous interviewee included on her version. The young woman, who moved to R.I. in 2013, didn’t think she would meet anybody here, and yet she and her boyfriend are now “starting to talk long-term” and think about where they’d like to settle down. Naturally, in addition to Seasick Steve’s lyrics to “My Home,” her map reflects the breadth of her burgeoning relationship. Right above “My home is where your blue eyes are, and my town is where your brown hair falls, and my country is when I’m in your arms…” is a big heart that indicates the spot labeled “starting our lives here.” To her, our state represents budding romance. She treasures the event where she and her boyfriend met, the park where they go snowshoeing and hiking, the hole-in-the-wall restaurant where they had their first date and the place they now consider their summer home.

A transplant from warmer climes, she sees the value of the project in its ability to illustrate different perspectives on the same location. She thinks it’s interesting that Rhode Islanders are attached to past landmarks. Having never felt at home in her old state, she now loves having a connection to our Jewish community, where she has started to create ties. Her map reflects that sense of belonging, which is the main idea behind the initiative.

Erin Moseley, director of Arts & NextGen Engagement, feels that the project serves a unifying purpose. The opening of the exhibit falls on Yom Ha’atzmaut. What better time to celebrate and come together as Jewish Rhode Islanders than on Israel’s Independence Day? Moseley greatly values the arts and is excited to create a public forum for people to share their work in an accessible way. She recalls the enormous success of the show in 2014 that displayed six-word memoirs. “The people were moved to see their words on a wall in a gallery.”

With Mapping Rhode Island, Moseley wanted to replicate the joy of that community exhibit. She contacted Becky Cooper, the New Yorker who came up with Map Your Memories, a project she started in 2009 by asking strangers to map Manhattan. In 2013, Cooper became the mastermind behind “Mapping Manhattan,” a collection of personal maps by average and notable New Yorkers, including Harvey Fierstein.

After Moseley obtained the rights to carry out the project in Rhode Island, she got in touch with Jason Freedman, a local artist who drew the map, providing a blank slate to be filled with whatever inspires you about our state – be it words, colors or musical notes. Moseley sent invitations to various groups to participate in the initiative. These include past artists, synagogues, religious schools and politicians. But most of all, she wants to see your submissions. Map away, artists!