GPS Embroidery: walking as re-articulation of the written maternalised landscape

ABSTRACT

GPS Embroidery is a participatory walking project that responds to the conflation of the ‘good‘ mother with the Romantic English landscape. This commentary considers the politics articulated through walking ‘as a mother‘; exploring GPS as a means to locate the maternal walking artist within maternalised landscapes, give voice to a traditionally silenced subject position, and reposition ongoing Romantic understandings of the singularity of the artist in relation to conceptions of the scribe. Contextualised through their relationship to earlier collaborative feminist practices, I consider GPS Embroideries as a tool with which to redefine ‘selflessness’ in relation to 21st-century mothering and art-making.

KEYWORDS:

• maternal performance
• walking women
• locative media art
• feminist performance
• live art walking practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Philps

Elizabeth Philps is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher with a background in contemporary theatre and site-based performance. Elizabeth completed her PhD at the University of Exeter and is programme leader of the BA in Drama and Performance at BIPA, Bristol, UK.