Week 1, Walk 1: Mapping Senses (5.18.10)

Sight: I was very interested in what I saw on my first walk. Initially as I walked through the downtown area of Palm Springs, California, I was slightly overwhelmed by all there was to look at. The sights were very chaotic, making it difficult for me to organize my thoughts and make sense of what I saw. After wandering around for a bit longer, I realized that this jumbled atmosphere of restaurants, shops, and people is really just comprised of visual patterns and repetitions. I noticed:
similar color palettes around every corner,


repeating shapes and forms,


and even structural similarities between geometric and organic objects.


These conclusions allowed me to more efficiently map my walk according to sight.

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Touch: For the second portion of my walk, I wanted to hone in on the aspects of the place which I could physically feel. As I continued through the space, I could feel the jagged texture of a desert plant, the damp shower of cooling misters, the soft petals of well-manicured flowers, the harsh bark of a native palm tree, and the intensely hot metal of a crosswalk button which would allow me to proceed. Through this exercise, I discovered that man and nature exist equally in even an urban setting. The addition of this mapping served to further enhance my sense of place.

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Hearing: On the final leg of my walking experience, I focused on listening to what was going on around me in the space. Although this particular space was very noisy, I was able to distinguish a handful of sounds which I heard repeating from one end of my walk to the other. I could hear water spewing out of a fountain and hitting the concrete ground. Since it was very hot, this was a refreshing sound. I heard the clinking of silverware and glasses from the vast array of restaurants in the area. These sounds made me want to sit down and have a good meal. I could also hear the sound of puddles splashing up from the pavement as cars drove through them. This particular noise made more cautious of staying clear of the street so as not to get wet. At the end of a day of having to actively use my other senses, it was nice to just listen and observe while I wandered through my chosen place.

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In conclusion, I found that by breaking down my experience of this place into acts of using my senses one at a time resulted in a better understanding of the place as a whole. I did not understand how rich this experience was until I looked through my recordings of each sense and combined them into one complete documentation. I intend to use this mapping technique in the future in order to become completely established with my surroundings and as rooted as possible in my chosen place.