Jim, Week 9: Label

Maps

I decorate my apartment with maps because I love their visual aesthetic. They are the greatest merging of visual representation and abstraction. Expanses of space ranging from the entire globe to the floor plan of a bedroom are flattened and represented by a series of lines, shapes, colors, and symbols - abstraction. Yet all of the information is there, precise and accurate - representation. Every road, lake, highway, and political boundary that exists in the real world is plotted. Maps are landscape paintings. All of the history and every experience occurring within a space are there, but remain invisible. The map is matter-of-fact, not caring about the history and experience but acting as a demarcation of their locales. Political boundaries are a perfect example of this. I have a world map from the 1980s that still shows the USSR as a nation. I also have a more recent one depicting the now independent nations. The map makes no commentary of the political situation in Asia and Eastern Europe, but simply does its job in depicting the new lines that have been drawn.