EMP- You Are Here, Personal Geographies and Maps of the Imagination

You Are Here, Personal Geographies and Maps of the Imagination by Katarine Harmon 

Mapmaking fulfills one of our most ancient and deepseated desires: understanding the world around us and our place in it. But maps need not just show continents and oceans: there are maps to heaven and hell; to happiness and despair; maps of moods, matrimony, and mythological places. There are maps to popular culture, from Gulliver's Island to Gilligan's Island. There are speculative maps of the world before it was known, and maps to secret places known only to the mapmaker. Artists' maps show another kind of uncharted realm: the imagination. What all these maps have in common is their creators' willingness to venture beyond the boundaries of geography or convention.'

'You Are Here is a wide-ranging collection of such superbly inventive maps. These are charts of places you're not expected to find, but a voyage you take in your mind: an exploration of the ideal country estate from a dog's perspective; a guide to buried treasure on Skeleton Island; a trip down the road to success; or the world as imagined by an inmate of a mental institution. With over 100 maps from artists, cartographers, and explorers, You are Here gives the reader a breath-taking view of worlds, both real and imaginary.

 by Katarine Harmon 

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This book explores all the different ways an artist can create a map. This book is perfect for my research as it can inform and inspire my work. Looking through this book I have found some examples that have encouraged me to push on with my designs. I have been previously finding it hard to imagine how I would layout my map to tell my narrative. This book has so many brilliant hand rendered illustrated maps to reference to. Below I have chosen a few maps that caught my eye in particular! I want to show these, as they are the most relevant to my current project on maps. 

 

My current EMP project is based on telling a narrative of a bird flying south for the winter. This narrative will be based on a fictional story. I will display this narrative in the form of a map and a supporting travel journal. I want this book to be used as a lovely storybook that is not only to be read but also to be seen and felt.  

Here are some examples from the book, You Are Here, Personal Geographies and Maps of the Imagination.