The interpretation of the artwork belongs to the viewer. My intention was to capture and trigger an emotional response, which is a subjective experience. That being said, it is important to clarify the objectives and ambition behind the drawing. After all, regardless of who “owns” the meaning of a piece, the artist curated the marks, lines, shapes, and shades. My motivation was to try and visually map out the terrain of an emotional utopia and dystopia. 

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I have explored ways of representing geographical and emotional landscapes in previous work. Whereby, I chose to focus on the line—the marks, the patterns, the repetition, and the form—and did not risk the possibility of colour detracting from this order. Colour is very personal, so deeply rooted in memory and feeling. Therefore by introducing colour, I wanted to open up a more complex map of a very personal landscape—a landscape of what it means to be in ‘Topia’: to see the distinctions and fluctuations between the journeys into joy, sadness, and to highlight that area that cannot be explored via any kind of map: the in-between.

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This artwork is incomplete, because there are places I have yet to journey to. I imagine it as the first piece of a jigsaw; the first small unlocking of a visual map of ‘Topia’. A map of feelings for which there is no compass. ‘Topia’ is a bringing together of irrational thinking, extreme thought, bold and sharp decision making, with the softness of peace and tranquility, of the idea of happiness and the movement and fluidity between these multiple feelings.

 

To start my map, I began with the colour blue: a calm, fresh, solitary, trusting, and confident colour. By marking out lines and shapes I allowed the colour to drift as it wished—flowing in and out like the darkness of waves just under the water’s surface. Merging and melting with similar lines and movement into green. Green is a small element in this piece. My green is a sharp, warm, earthly green, with natural and curving layers. It opens out whilst staying underneath, remaining a small token of colour—slightly understated. 

 

Then I introduced red, yellow, and orange. Bold with bright movement, sunshine, colour which grasps on for its own sake. Colour which finds pockets and tenaciously stays put, to sweep around, to infiltrate. They are assertive colours, flexible and self-assured, with no alternatives. Red cannot be mistaken. Yellow is a welcoming daylight hue, an oozing sunflower liquor—a 1970’s sweatshirt yellow. And orange, well, as always she is the people-pleaser, the merger, the favourite, and the warmth that never gets too hot to burn. Only a few colours but so many associations, the marks, the shapes, and the lines together form my map.

 

We breathe and live in a world that is neither perfect nor imperfect. A world which, to me, cannot be a utopia nor dystopia. But ‘Topia’, it can be this. ‘Topia’ is what my experience of the world is, an overwhelming yet accurate array of feelings. A medley that summarises the emotions felt throughout life, and how each, whether joyous or painful, moulds into the other.

 

Utopia and dystopia cannot exist anywhere but in our heads. So many writers, philosophers, and artists have tried over the centuries to define what each of these terms—utopia, dystopia—means to them, or how they envision these places to be: in the future, in an afterworld, in a land  without time, or in the present day. Asking the same questions, I found an answer through mapping emotions. Though utopia cannot exist due to its absolutism, its finality, through emotions we can live and identify our mini utopias—moments of bliss and paradise.

 

Though this is an exploration of my ‘Topia’, the elements are not singular to me. I see the small points and marks as paths mapping out many ideas and journeys shared by others as they navigate their own and overlap into my ‘Topia’.

 

It is up to the viewer to decide how they interpret the colours, and to see if they can find their own tracks. Colours can conjure memories and spark ideas, they are also fluid and can always change and become another colour.

 

Take the colours I have given and draw a map of your own ‘Topia'.

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To see more of Ailish's work and/or contact her visit: www.ailishtrimble.com