A collection of drawings revealing life in an ordinary English street during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This book presents more than two hundred observational drawings that were created every day by artist Nicole Porter as she looked out the window onto her ordinary English street in extraordinary times: the COVID-19 pandemic. This visual record, along with Porter’s accompanying prose, is a unique meditation on place, nature, community, time, and mental well-being and the value of mindfully appreciating them all through drawing. Through Porter’s eyes, we gain insight into the individual and collective experience and place-specific impacts of the pandemic, as opposed to the quantitative statistics of mortality and infection rates that are at the heart of most reporting and analysis.
By:
Nicole Porter
Imprint: Intellect Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Dimensions:
Height: 210mm,
Width: 148mm,
ISBN: 9781789388206
ISBN 10: 1789388201
Series: Global Health Humanities
Pages: 500
Publication Date: 13 February 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
Professional and scholarly
,
ELT Advanced
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgements 1. Introduction A first sketch On purpose An everyday place Daily practices for well-being ‘Mere syllables of what I saw’ An emerging narrative (or how to read this book) 2. Framing space Windows onto the world Operability Outlook Orientation An invitation to look Engaging with windows – Communication and creativity Single hung sash 3. Noticing nature and place Green space The trees Other vegetation: Weeds, flowers, shrubs, moss, grass and indoor plants The wildlife The sky The houses The street The place 4. Watching people People socializing People and their pets People gardening and do-it-yourself (DIY) People working People alone People missing and mysterious Reflections People and place 5. Drawing as… A way of knowing Cultivating beginner’s mind Focusing and experiencing As professional practice Capturing time Sitting still long enough ‘a little irksomeness and a few disappointments’ A therapeutic process Revealing to self and others 6. Conclusion Drawing to a close Revealing residential life during COVID-19 Drawing to connect with place, people and ourselves Postscript Bibliography Index
Dr Nicole Porter was born in Melbourne, Australia and educated at the University of Melbourne in architecture and landscape architecture. She lived and worked in Nottingham UK (2011 - 2022) before being appointed as Professor and Chair of Multi-Disciplinary Design at the University of Utah.
