Walking has gained increasing attention as a research method—through walking interviews, ‘go-alongs’, and approaches that map the geographies of everyday life.
In 2024, Dr Anne Schiffer spent six months on a research sabbatical, including four months at South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, hosted by Prof. Ping Su and Prof Adam Grydehøj. ‘Mapping with my feet’ is an exhibition that brings together work developed during that time, alongside a publication (Mapping With My Feet booklet) which reflects on the layered meanings of walking methods for mapping bodies of water in the urban villages of Shenjingcun and Nancun.
Drawing on field journals and a series of reflective postcards—one for each week of the sabbatical—the work traces an evolving, personal engagement with place, movement, and water captured in a reflective text. The exhibition also includes a display of postcards, selected sketchbooks, digitally drawn maps layered with photographs, and photographic walkthroughs depicting journeys through both Shenjingcun and Nancun.