Tom Phillips Map Walk / Art on the Road, Circa 1970

Map Walk/Art on the Road by Tom Phillips RA CBE (1937-2022), is part of a series that explores the artist’s relationship to Camberwell and Peckham in southeast London where Phillips lived and worked. Recontextualizing and treating maps and images to document his movements throughout these neighbourhoods, here Philips focuses on the heart of Peckham, as seen on the square map that has been painted over to indicate a walking route throughout the area. Featuring maps taken from pages from 'A-Z' guides, here the central brown circle is surrounded by a wash of blue paint to darken and blur the area around the walking route, shown in green with white pinpoints.

With works from this series in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, their meaning is ambiguous; these may simply be records of walks undertaken by Phillips himself, or he may be offering us the opportunity to follow in his footsteps, and to experience something of his locality, his influences and his inspiration.