Mark Allen Soderstrom

Cartography, 2003 - 2008

Antique globe, chalk, felt eraser, graphite, ink, magazine pages, postcards

Dimensions variable

 

 

Maps are visual two-dimensional translations of our physical geography designed to help us orient ourselves within, and relate to our terrestrial world. They, in turn, reinforce their abstractions on our understanding of that world. Distortions in cartography translate into distortions in worldviews and no map is without distortion.

 

These charts extract man-made attributes we project onto our world. Cartography sets out to illustrate how national boundaries, specific names, and hegemonic objectification are but extensions of ourselves and do not necessarily exist beyond our thoughts.

Rorschac: Virgin Islands

Map of the Baltic Republic of Latvia

Rorschac: Guam

Sketch Map of the... Islands

Rorschac: Indian Territories (Michigan)

Rorschac: Oregon Territories

Sketch Showing Fronts of the... and... Glaciers

Rorschac: Indian Territories (Oklahoma)

The... Reef, a Submarine Curtain of Coral

Rorschac: Marshall Islands

A Map of... Showing the... of...

Rorschac: Proclamation Line of 1763

Rorschac: Palau

Map of Bay of... from Survey by... , 1907-1908

A Map of the... Coast

Rorschac: Wake Island

Rorschac: Northern Mariana Islands

Where the new Alphabet was Found

Rorschac: Midway Islands

Changing in the Estuary of the... River 

Rorschac: Louisiana Purchase

A Sketch Map of...

Rorschac: U.S. Original Colonies

The... is the Largest... in the Western Hemisphere

Rorschac: Johnston Atoll

The Area of Modern Greece Approximates that of New York State

Rorschac: Puerto Rico

The Northern Half of the... Islands

Rorschac: Samoa