Data: Getting deep into things: Deep mapping in an ''uncharted' territory

Deep mapping is an ethnographically informed, arts research practice, drawing Cifford Geertz's notion of 'thick description' into a visual-performative realm and seeking to extend beyond the thin map by creating multi-faceted and open-ended descriptions of place. As such, deep maps are not only investigations into place but of equal concern are the processes by which representations of place are generated. Implicit in this are questions about the role of the researcher as initiator, gatherer, archivist or artist and the intertwining between the place and the self.

As a methodological approach that embraces multiplicity and favours the 'politicized, passionate, and partisan' over the totalising objectivity of traditional maps, deep mapping offers a potential to give voice to marginalised, micro-narratives existing in tension with one another and within dominant meta-narratives but also triggers new questions over inclusivity. This methodologically focussed chapter explores the ways in which an ethnographically informed, arts research practice may offer alternative insight into spaces of non-aligned narratives.

The results from this investigation will offer new framings of spaces within the urban landscape conventionally represented as vacant or empty and generate perspectives on how art research methods may provide valuable investigative tools for decision makers working in such contexts.