Cartography of Desire

Cartography of Desire features 12 artists from 10 different geo-political locations. Taken together, they render visible a landscape where centers of power shift from controlled, illusory borders and the flattening effect of normative map-making, to a realm where the contours and profiles of place are shaped by each artist’s personal area of concern. These areas of concern range from issues of social justice, environmental activism and food to bearing witness at the border and bearing witness at home. The artists explore the threat of ambiguous objects and the tension between staying or going; they ponder the undeciphered body of text and the body as container, defined by its own written history. For these artists, the epicenter of significance could as easily be inside a refrigerator as alongside a refugee. In this world, structures of power give way to expressions of desire, the fusion of histories and dreams, where the false certainty of the map dot becomes an existential topography of wayfinding and place-making.

If maps structure, and at times constrain our knowledge, the work of these artists proposes alternate landscapes; the textured contours of a vibrant, and at times troubled world.  Curated by Katayoun Amjadi and John Schuerman

Artists: Katayoun Amjadi, Lois Bielefeld, Xavier Tavera, Nina Ghanbarzadeh, Guillermo Guardia, Wing Young Huie, Essma Imady, Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Mika Negishi Laidlaw, Nirmal Raja, Kazua Melissa Vang, Rina Yoon