KOMIZA NARRATIVE
(I really love to see satellite pictures)
when someone tells me about his travels, or when i read the newspapers about any kind of conflicts going on, i always want to see a map.
that’s a reason why I love to use google maps, I look up the cities and countries, I love to see the satellite pictures, I look at woods and deserts, I see houses and cars, and then I start to imagine how it would be being there. and suddenly I have something like a connection.
this connection is even bigger when I have been to some of the places before when I met people from there and listened to their stories. suddenly the newspaper information is getting more real, more personal.
(suddenly I am a part of all these stories)
nowadays all world is connected with the internet and different kinds of networks, in cyberspace you can go everywhere. with google maps, I am walking around in the African desert or I try to see pirates near the Somalia coast. I can see the destroyed houses in Syria or the refugee camps in Libya.
how is it if you have to leave home because of war? or because you are not able to earn enough money to feed your family? how is it living far away from your parents and siblings? I can visit my brother all the time, we can hang out, or have dinner with our mom…
(but I am not that good in geography at all)
that’s why I like to draw mental maps because for me this maps seem more true than the real geographical ones. my maps are connected with stories and references. some places I see with my mind’s eye even if I have never been there. but I have friends there and I know their stories. i try to see with their eyes and feel with their minds every time I read a newspaper article. and then I can read more than just facts, I read in humans destinies.
(or the stories becoming part of me)
certainly, there is always my story in addition, for the reason that I get part of all these narratives while listening to it.
maps are always about distance and destinations, and I tried to create a big picture with komiza as its centre and all the stories and ways around. all these stories open ways to the whole world.
I sent all parts of my map to mostly unknown people with the request to send it back to my home address so that I can rebuild my expedition and archive it. with the parts that came back to me, I rebuild the map I showed in komiza.
