As part of the Campbell River Arts Council’s Cultural Mapping Project, artist J. Alex Witcombe wants you to make your mark on the Big Rock.
To facilitate this, he has created an interactive version of the famous landmark to compliment his newest undertaking, the Big Rock Campbell River website. The Big Rock Campbell River website is an informational hub celebrating Campbell River’s local cultural icon, the forty foot tall glacial erratic that has commanded the shoreline since the last ice age.
The Big Rock has been a cultural focal point for millennia, acting as a way-marker, mythic embodiment, community message board and a personal canvas. It mirrors many of the connections, patterns, diversity, cohesiveness and contentions that add to the creation of the community’s particular culture. But in particular it displays the ever-evolving layering of individual and group expression, a constant sedimentation of stories that provide a rich, multi-coloured backdrop for the newest layer. The Big Rock is birthed again and again as a cultural map, a monolithic point of reference for the community.
On the website (www.bigrockcampbellriver.com) you can explore the history of the Rock, reflect on its cultural significance, check out the blog and even navigate around a Google Earth-powered interactive version of the Big Rock. Witcombe is inviting the public to submit visual and media materials for inclusion onto the virtual Big Rock, as if they were ‘tagging’ the actual Rock with their personal expressions. These expressions may include photos, drawings, writings, mementos, book, newspaper and magazine clippings, logos, artwork, digital media links and more. You can send your submissions through the site at www.bigrockcampbellriver.com.
As well, check out the Big Rock Facebook page and share your stories of the Big Rock. For more information on the Arts Council’s Cultural Mapping Project check out the website www.crmappingculture.wordpress.com or call the Arts Council at 250-923-0213.