Over 200 observational drawings created every day from the same window reveal life in an ordinary English street in extraordinary times.
This visual record and accompanying prose is a unique meditation on place, nature, community, time and mental well-being. Through this qualitative work 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 characterise daily media soundbites and scientific discourse surrounding lockdown.
Five themes are central to the drawings, highlighting the environmental and social factors influencing daily life, and how these can be perceived and recorded via observational drawing: ‘framing space’ foregrounds the importance of widows as an interface between interior and exterior worlds; ‘observing nature and the built environment’ celebrates the street and garden as sites of human-nature relations that support well-being; ‘watching people’ focusses on the activities typify living under lockdown including isolation, socially distanced interactions and working from home; ‘drawing’ reflects on the multiple professional and personal benefits of drawing; and mindful awareness is discussed throughout, affirming the value of appreciating everyday life through drawing practice.
Table of Content
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
About the author
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.
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