S
een from the vast distance of outer space, the whirling
sphere we inhabit – the planet Earth – is a swirl of elusive
colors, seas, Sahara’s, mountain ranges, division-less and
unified. Close up, there is an overlaid network of arbitrary
boundaries and every conceivable form of sectioning and frag-
mentation. The great problems of the distribution of space –
the unequal qualities of land, water, and other natural re-
sources – lead to the miseries of starvation and war. However,
the exhilaration of exploring
terra incognita
,
the spaces on
earth that have not yet been imprinted, is filled with anticipa-
tion, dreams, and enormous opportunities.
Maps as visual propaganda have been used since ancient times
for numerous political and social reasons. The earliest known
surviving map is a Mesopotamian clay tablet dating from c.
3000
B.C.E. that delineated agricultural fields. Navigational
maps, both nautical and of the sky, were perhaps the earliest
notated guides from place to place, although few have sur-
vived. Today we have Global Positioning Satellites and other
systems to guide our journeys. NASA provides us with aerial
maps of every global centimeter at every nano-second of time.
Deuteronomy 27:17 clearly encourages Jews to regard seri-
ously acknowledged boundaries when it says “Cursed be he
who removes his fellow countryman’s landmark.” Preservation
of boundary markers was from earliest times an established
community responsibility. Jewish maps define more than
places of Jewish ownership: they encompass the places where
Jews once lived and were forced out by pogroms, inquisitions,
and the
Shoah
.
They include the maps of memory of immi-
grants, Biblical Israel, and modern Israel.
Envisioning Maps
is a selection of paintings and sculptures
by contemporary American and international artists who use
actual maps as well as the concept of maps in their art. Their
concerns include the thrust of historical events, the threat of
ecological disaster, political and social justice issues, migration,
immigration, and fantasy.
Joyce Kozloff uses maps as the foundation for structures in
which she inserts a range of issues, particularly the role of
cartography in human knowledge and as an imposition of
imperial will. Doug Beube’s globe studded with matches
alludes to the potential for world conflagration, while Paul
Weissman depicts the path of the toxic clouds covering Europe
and North America following the Chernobyl disaster. David
Newman’s anthropomorphic beasts balance on the tattered
scraps of maps as they battle for dominance.
Mike Howard’s monumental depiction of the
Assassination of
Trotsky
pulls us into the orbit of presumed world domination;
the overturned globe is as explicit as the dead Russian ideologist.
The idea of domination is chillingly brought home by Melissa
Gould’s map,
Neu York, 1945,
in which every New York City
street is named as if the Nazis had prevailed and it were Berlin.
The threat of Nazi victimization is chillingly felt in Tamar
Hirschl’s
Exodus II,
a map of France, in which flight is no longer
possible. Karen Gunderson has provided us with the pitch
black night sky as it appeared to Jews being rowed to safety
on the night of October 1, 1943 from Denmark to Sweden,
guided by the stars to their destiny. Working with maps is a
hallmark of William Kentridge and in
Der Sudliche Sternhim-
mel,
the two dark silhouettes marching across the map of the
constellations imply the flight of outcasts or refugees.
Israel’s distinctive map appears in a number of works and that
of Paula Scher staggers the viewer with an avalanche of names,
places, statistics, and demographic information, plumbing the
depth of the full meaning of the word ‘map.’ Maty Grünberg,
using layers of handmade paper, depicts the aging of the state
of Israel – not only the natural erosion of the land but the
numerous etched lines of the altered borders, which create a
physical and psychological portrait. Archie Rand superimposes
an intense portrait of the visionary leader, Theodore Herzl,
over a prophetic map.
Returning home is a theme that links both maps of migration
and maps of immigration. A humanist note is struck by the
hand blown glass
assemblages
of Marc Petrovic, in which
plump birds find their way home guided by a nautical maps.
Barbara Green documents the journey of her family from
Europe to America, using actual documents, maps, and
miniature paintings. Peter Sis provides sheer fantasy in the
form of a majestic whale/map of New York City. Mark
Podwal brings sharp wit and political mesage to his charged
drawings, including a view of Gershom Scholem's Jerusalem.
“
In other words, maps are not records of what each part of the
world actually is; regardless of historical and cultural context,
maps are careful imaginings of what people have wanted the
world to be.”
1
1
Edney, Matthew H., “
Mapping Parts of the World.”
in Akerman, James R.; Karrow, Jr.,
Robert W., eds.
Maps: Finding Our Place in the World
(
Chicago: University of Chicago
Press for the Field Museum and the Newberry Library, 2007): 117-57.
ENVISIONING MAPS
Laura Kruger
Curator, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum