Layla Curtis

Kielder Water & Islands is a collaged map combining a contemporary map of Kielder Water with a map of the valley before it was dammed and flooded. On the new map a series of 'islands' are created from the 14 communities that existed before Kielder Water was opened in 1982.

Kielder Water & Islands was produced as an edition of 10,000 folded, printed maps with slipcase co-designed with Fraser Muggeridge studio and distributed free to visitors to Kielder Water & Forest Park. 

Developed by The Kielder Partnership: The Calvert Trust, The Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Northumberland County Council, Northumbrian Water, Tynedale Council & Community Groups.

Layla Curtis spent three months in Antarctica carrying out an extensive psycho-geographical exploration and creating a continuous line drawing charting her journey.

Longitudinal and latitudinal data recorded on a personal GPS tracking system was logged on the project website to create a 27,856 mile long, interactive web based drawing embedded with photographs and drawings.  

A suite of 10 limited edition screen prints, focusing on specific points and incidents along the line were also produced.

Layla Curtis was awarded an Arts Council England International Fellowship to Antarctica jointly sponsored by The British Antarctic Survey. This project was developed in collaboration with Locus+.

NewcastleGateshead is a collaged map complied from regional namesakes taken from city maps worldwide. Place names from a number of countries including Australia, Canada, Jamaica and Ireland are juxtaposed to create an alternative map of North East England. 

30,000 copies of the double sided, folded print version of NewcastleGateshead were distributed free across the UK to coincide with NewcastleGateshead Festival of the Visual Arts 2006.

Additionally the collage was reproduced as a limited edition Gicléé print using archival inks on Somerset 250gsm velvet enhanced paper. Signed edition of 35.

Commissioned by Locus+