Maps, Borders and Networks

Project brief:

The theme “Maps, Borders and Networks’ has an infinite number of permutations. It can be associated with social and cultural relationships or to literally have a dissection or demarcation of an area. It can also be associated with surface pattern and relationships with tone, texture or form.

I must first discover where my interest piques and how I can make this project my own. What networks am I a part of every day? How do I use maps in my daily life? How have borders thus far determined my actions growing up?

Something that I am immediately drawn to is the very literal and direct response to the project title. I have always been interested in underground and metro maps, more so than a standard map of roads or cities. This is not only because of the cleaner lines and graphic nature of them, but also the vibrancy of the map itself, often using colour to differentiate routes. If we look at the London Underground map, and crop it to focus in on a small area (right), we can really appreciate the clean lines and different colours cutting across the image. There is an abstract almost random effect, but each line serves a specific purpose. I particularly enjoy how unspecific the map itself is, with distance between stops only vaguely accurate in order to make the map easy to read and visually pleasing. I could perhaps incorporate the vibrant blocks of colour and line into my work in future.

When I read further into the project brief however, there are also many interesting interpretations of the title, particularly that surrounding networks. The idea that everyone is connected and themselves part of a wider network, through many factors, including class systems, employment, friendship, social media and other elements to society. Tracey Emin’s ‘Everyone I Have Ever Slept With’ is a representation of how a list of people who each live independent lives, and to whom many are strangers to each other, are suddenly connected through Emin’s actions.