I Am Here: Artists Making Maps as Autobiographical Geographies<\/a> opening excerpt from paper:<\/p>\n I Am Here: Artists Making Maps as Autobiographical Geographies I was driving west towards the city of Salamanca in Spain, on a gorgeous The windows in the car are open, the air rushing into the car fluttering I am fanning myself with our folded road map, neglecting my own earlier Maps play an important role in our lives, giving us security, guidance and Traditionally, map making is a scientifically driven art with the purpose of Here are some examples of projects involving “autobiographical” maps. An (as yet) incomplete paper I wrote listing these examples can be found here. I Am Here: Artists Making Maps as Autobiographical Geographies opening excerpt from paper: I Am Here: Artists … Continue reading
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<\/p>\n
\nby Doris Cacoilo<\/p>\n
\nscorching summer day. The land was flat and empty. We would stop in
\nSalamanca to refuel and then turn north on our way to Bilbao. Sean is
\nnavigating from the passenger seat. In the long expanses between turns
\nhe would explore our road map, explaining many of his discoveries,
\nclarifying anything we might be seeing and may want to stop for. We had
\nluckily found the map in a drawer of my bedroom, a very good road map,
\ndetailed and extensive. My brother must have left it behind the summer
\nbefore when he had driven to Spain from our summer home in Portugal.<\/p>\n
\nthe paper of the map, twisting and folding it in his hands. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Be careful with
\nthe map,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I tell him, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to lose it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We arrived in Salamanca
\nand switched, Sean gets into the driver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seat. We find our way out of the
\ncity and onto the road north to Bilbao. We still have many hours left to
\ntravel in the scorching sun, before sundown will give us some relief.<\/p>\n
\nwarning to Sean. A huge gust of air sweeps in through the open window
\nand grabs hold of the corner of the folded map. The map explodes open
\nand is sucked out into the air above the highway. A tractor-trailer cab
\nbehind us instantly collects the map, it is glued to the grill, frozen
\nperfectly covering the front of the truck. It is unfolded and entirely
\nvulnerable. Sean and I are silent. My mouth has flown open and as I stare
\nat the map, glued to the truck behind us, I cannot say a word. Sean does
\nnot dare say a thing, but I know what he is thinking. We sit in silence, the
\nmap following behind us for what seems like an eternity. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I miss the
\nmap,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I eventually mutter, and I did.<\/p>\n
\nthe power to explore. They give us a factual, unquestionable reality that
\nallows us to faithfully follow their instructions, believe their
\nrepresentations and trust their paths, even and especially into unknown
\nterritories. They allow us a view into worlds we may not know and help us
\nfeel the courage to venture out to new places, better understanding them
\nas we go, giving us a bird\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eye view of our location, giving us a bigger
\npicture. The maps in our lives contextualize our spaces, our location and
\nour time. They give us a picture of space, guide us through it, and help
\nus record it. Maps become personal assistants, navigators, political tools, illustrations of boundaries and ownership, historical documents, records of experience and even road companions. In all of their roles they seem
\nto provide us service and we trust in the service they provide. When we
\nare suddenly with out them, we may feel lost.<\/p>\n
\norganizing and representing information. This information is usually
\nassociated with geographic boundaries, history, natural landscape,
\ntopography and transportation. Many contemporary artists use the tools
\ncartography provides, to achieve personal expressions which often
\nappear as maps, recognizable by the iconography of the tools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"