About the Artist
'Come in and know me better man!', Charles Dickens, A christmas Carol, 1843
Contour Lines grew from a lifelong fascination with places, the stories I grew up with and a desire to reimagine the places I have lived and loved through loss and rediscovery.
I have lived, worked and wandered across Scotland and the Borders, collecting memories as readily as maps. From the shores of Holy Island to the hills of Killiecrankie and the landscapes around Selkirk, each place has left its mark on me and helped shape the collections you will find here.
What began as a love of local history and historic cartography became a desire to share these remarkable landscapes with others. Through carefully curated maps and collections, Contour Lines invites you to explore the places, people and journeys that have shaped our history.
Regards
Suzane
Community- Growing Together
Community
Contour Lines began with historic maps, but maps are never only about roads, railways, rivers and towns. They are also about people: the ones who walked the paths, worked the lines, left the villages, returned to them, remembered them, and imagined them differently.
This community page is a space for writing, walking, memory, art and collaboration.
Alongside the map collections, Contour Lines will develop literary projects connected to place, history and belonging. This will include new writing by Suzane Donaldson, interviews with walkers, artists and local voices, and selected creative work from others whose practice connects with landscape, memory, heritage or the Scottish Borders.
Writing Projects
This section will share updates from ongoing writing projects, including poetry, prose, reflective essays and collaborative pieces. Some work will grow from the maps themselves; some will come from conversations, walks, family histories, fragments of memory, or the feeling of standing somewhere and sensing that the past is still underfoot.
Voices from the Walk
Contour Lines is interested in the stories people carry through places.
Future interviews and features will include walkers, artists, readers, makers and people with a deep connection to the Borders landscape. These pieces may explore favourite routes, remembered places, creative practice, family stories, or the small details that make a landscape feel alive.
Artists and Collaborations
This page will also provide space for selected artists and writers to share work that sits naturally beside the Contour Lines project.
Submissions and collaborations may include:
Short prose or poetry connected to place, walking, memory or landscape
Visual art, photography or mixed media inspired by maps, history or the Scottish Borders
Reflections on local routes, ruins, railways, rivers, towns or communities
Interviews or conversations about creative practice
Contour Lines is not trying to become everything to everyone. The focus will remain clear: place, memory, history, landscape, creativity and the Borders.
Taking Part
If you would like to be interviewed, contribute a short piece of writing, share artwork, or discuss a collaboration, please get in touch via the contact box in home.
Please include a short description of your idea, any relevant links or images, and a note about how your work connects to the themes of Contour Lines.
All featured work remains the copyright of the original creator. Contour Lines will only publish work with permission and will always credit contributors clearly.