Palimpsest

Palimpsest is an exhibition of large drawings, artists books, and monotypes which considers the social influences of colonialism, geographic bias, authority, and nationalism amongst shifting global cultures. It is abstract cartography with a primary focus on the physical world map as an imperfect object with emphasis on how and why they were made, and the intentions of those who created them. The works in this exhibition utilize printmaking processes to create unconventional representations of global bodies and aesthetically claim agency over the fallible nature of maps. This supporting paper will illuminate the vacillating aspects of map history and usage through themes of material culture, simultaneous time and nationalism. Further, geological change, geopolitical perspectives, and my personal history will explain why I subvert these notions through abstraction in attempt to unite the personal geographies of the viewer to the broader world. The works display simultaneity of space and time while dissolving concepts of national identity, borders or boundaries to illuminate a need for better understanding across cultures.