In 2010 the Douglas arts community interpreted the writings of poet and storyteller Helen Ramoutsaki in Mapping the Heart, a colourful, vibrant travelogue along the contour lines of life and love.

Mapping the Heart was a performance of original poetry, songs, and multimedia art linked together like the grid squares of a map, locating the topography of the heart in the landscape of the Douglas region.

Words, music, movement and photographic images told a series of stories about our relationships to ourselves, to those we love, to our community and our environment.  The heart was shown reaching out in an exploration of its territory, negotiating lows and highs, and returning home to find that its purpose lies in its unique connection to its world.

The show was written and directed by Helen Ramoutsaki and produced by Frank Frikker. It was performed at the Clink Theatre in Port Douglas and at the 2010 Cairns Tropical Writers Festival.

Helen’s spoken word pieces were performed by John Burden, Shaun Cram, Lynne Devlin and Helen. Upasana Papadopoulos, Omid Master, Marilyn Davison, Angela Zammataro and Frank Frikker, who have composed songs using Helen’s lyrics, joined together with Los Caracoles in performing them.

Photographs of the Douglas region by Andrew Kalda and Martine Cotton were incorporated into a multimedia presentation by Ina van Bezoen.

Upasana Papadopoulos took the words of a poem Helen wrote for the show to compose the title song, Mapping the Heart. In 2012 a live performance with Gregg Buchanan was recorded at Arthouse in Cairns: