Download the exhibition pamphlet here

“I like maps, because they lie.
Because they give no access to the vicious truth.
Because great-heartedly, good-naturedly
they spread before me a world
not of this world.”
— Wisława Szymborska

Maps are frequently accused of reinforcing the power of those who produce them. Throughout history, cartography has been inextricably tied to imperialism, with maps defining the limits of territories and asserting the legitimacy of borders. However, as a creative practice, mapping also holds the potential to disrupt commonly-held beliefs about the spaces we inhabit. It can highlight difference and subjective experience, drawing attention to the constructed nature of the world in which we live, and the social, environmental, and political relations that shape our everyday reality. Mapping—both literally and metaphorically—offers the opportunity to chart complex and overlooked terrain, revealing new layers of meaning and modes of interpretation.

Through their work, the artists in Of This World reimagine our geopolitical landscape by producing alternative cartographies. They draw upon personal and political histories to trace the interconnectedness of subjectivity and geography. Probing private and public spaces, their work explores how identities are continually negotiated through contact with space and place. Each artist approaches maps as living documents in continual evolution, subject to scrutiny and revision. Collectively, their work reveals how cartographic practices might foster new forms of knowledge and systems of meaning-making.