I like this story from the National Geographic about a project aimed at capturing the concentrates of a place by a teacher: Marianne Braca.
The project was influenced by the work of Tanya Shadrick.
Marianne said:
Tanya describes her Concentrates of Place as a ‘deliberate way of honouring places and people.’The project resonated with me, and as a geographer I am so interested in place. I also love the idea of collecting little pieces of a place and putting them in a tin for safekeeping, and I figured if I loved this idea my students would as well.”
Shadrick drew on memories from painful events in her life to develop the idea of capturing a place within a tin.
The idea of canning 'ideas' or intangible products reminds me of items such as this, which I purchased from Margate's Crab Museum recently as a novelty item.
Mostly because I couldn't afford to buy one of Piero Manzoni's cans which contain something a little less fresh.
It's also a reminder of one of the missions in the first Mission:Explore book, which invited people to sell the smell of a place.
This was incorporated into some resources from National Geographic some years back. It was really a privilege to work with National Geographic on several resources themed around Geography Awareness Week. We also produced a special Sustainable Seafood version of Mission:Explore Food and an entire booklet aimed at the week itself with special missions for exploring the neighbourhood.
They are still available on the website.
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