In colloquial discourse, the term border has become a synonym for national borders, yet in everyday life we cross numerous minor, invisible borders between communities, towns, cities etc. Such borders are often only apparent on maps, otherwise remaining imperceptible to us. In this project, I draw inspiration from quipu, an ancient recording device made of rope used by Andean cultures, to create my own custom-made recording device to map and mediate these invisible borders. The Andean peoples used quipu to keep records, monitor tax obligations, collect census records, etc., and record data according to colour, order, number of knots, etc.

Inspired by the work of Richard Long titled Walking a Line in Peru where the author walks along straight lines in the natural terrain of Peru, I have chosen an inconspicuous route to discover and document. My chosen route was a 600 metre boundary where the Boroughs of Kensington and Westminster meet. Rather unobtrusive, this boundary appears no different from other parts of central London, and as one traverses it, one might not even realise to have crossed it.

By documenting environment characteristics, sensory perceptions, and human activities, this project aims to concretise my chosen boundary. The red, green and blue ropes record tension and relaxation that I felt while walking, and I used two knot-tying techniques to express the intensity of these feelings.