Mike Duggan takes a look at the exhibition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s maps currently running at the Architectural Association Gallery in London, which displays the maps as cyanotypes on fabric.

In the gallery space, Le Guin’s maps are looked at in isolation rather than relating directly to a text. They demand a different kind of attention, for there is a different form of visual connection between a viewer and a gallery object than between a reader and a book. So the maps are taken out of their original context and placed in another. But this isn’t to say this new context is any less significant. […]

There will forever be a tension between the map exhibition and the ways that maps are encountered in books. By definition they are being “exhibited” and put at the centre. And there’s no doubt Le Guin’s maps look impressive here, masterfully hung, printed on deep blue cotton, bathed in warm lighting.

Draped thoughtfully in rows throughout the space is perhaps a nod to being immersed in the cartographic imagination of Le Guin. They are certainly a spectacle that encourages a closer look. But is that enough?

The exhibition runs through 6 December. The accompanying book is out now from Spiral House (and in the U.S. in January): Amazon (Canada, UK), Bookshop.

Previously: The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K. Le Guin.