Cartographic Projection

2017 / Acrylic and charcoal on paper / 3 units, 50 × 30 cm

In order to represent our planet’s surface on a map, its form has to be simplified. First, it has to be treated like a perfect mathematical sphere, and then a cartographic projection must be selected, to set out the relationship between that sphere and the resulting flat diagram. In this piece, I try to show how these projections “fill out” their maps by altering distances, angles and areas. That is, if we were to wrap a sphere in paper, and paint the oceans and continents on it, before then flattening the paper out again, we would realise that all of the areas without any paint do not, in fact, exist.