“Collaborative Landscape” by Flynn O’Brien

In his “Collaborative Landscape” project, artist Flynn O’Brien proposes to participants to create their own “walking maps.” This project was recently started in order to create an on-going series of landscape images through a collaborative process between Flynn O’Brien and participants from around the world.  Using a process that Flynn created and transcribed in a manual (Landscape Manual), the participants are asked to follow a series of steps in objectively collecting photographic information while also making subjective choices along the way in the creation of a final image.

While a number of subjective choices are made by the participants throughout the collaborative process, a strict set of rules are adhered to, creating a common visual language between images.  Through this common language, the participant’s relationship with that environment is defined by their experience within that space.  The goal of the project is to continue to expand the number of participants, in order to further define this field of exploration.