Collective Mapping of emotions and Body Maps

In collaboration with ActionAid Hellas, we facilitated a participatory workshop with teenagers at the summer camp "The Ranch" in Sofiko, within the framework of the "Youth 4 Love 2" programme.

The workshop was based on 2 collective mapping methods. We began with emotional mapping on cardboard and continued with the Body Maps technique.

At the core of the process was the recognition of knowledge as something that emerges from people as living, feeling bodies in the world.

Body Maps are a collective mapping tool that helps explore how environments, both tangible and intangible, affect our bodies. They allow us to understand how feelings of fear and insecurity are experienced physically, while also valuing embodied knowledge and lived experience.

Since the 1980s, Body Maps have been used across many disciplines to study the effects of environments on health, the consequences of migration and colonisation, and the impact of conflict on individual and collective memory.

During the workshop, teenagers from Italy, Belgium, Romania, and Greece engaged deeply with the mapping techniques. Through the process, they brought forward everyday gender issues, particularly those experienced during adolescence, and spoke openly about gender identity and bodily experiences, including menstruation.

The goal of the workshop was to introduce accessible and meaningful collective mapping tools, while creating a safe and brave space where participants could express concerns creatively, communicate openly, feel empowered, and build bonds that support collective action in the future.