Tag: collage

Skin Maps

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

A members-only exhibition at the Royal Geographic Society, Skin Maps: Semi-Permeable Cartography, features “collages and reworkings of historic maps” by artist Steph Morris. From Morris’s website:

The new collages by Steph on display arose from an intimate study of historic maps, many from the Royal Geographical Society collections, including seventeenth-century vellum portolan charts and historic atlases. They provided both material and inspiration. Handling maps hand-drawn on calf skin led him to consider the similarities between these depictions of landmasses and seas and the bodies of mammals, especially humans, with their liquids and solids, entry and exit points, contours and incursions; it seemed as if the cartographers had explored those similarities too. Many of the historic atlases he examined also contain illustrations of battles on land and sea, reminders of conflict and bloodshed which felt far from historic. The critical bodily health of the world’s lands and seas was also hard to ignore.

His process involved exploring anagrams, negatives/positives, shadows, inversions and reflections and the simple syntax of collage: what happens when you place disparate things alongside each other to create a new grammar. As well as maps from previous centuries, this frequently involved material such as cookbooks and gardening manuals from previous decades.

Non-members take heart: guided tours of the exhibition, open to the public, take place on 28 July (i.e., tomorrow) and 11 August (free, registration required). Also, Morris is holding a collage-map art workshop on 31 July (free, registration). And you can see highlights of the exhibition at Morris’s Instagram account (see above).

Skin Maps opened on 12 June and closes 16 August 2026. [Katie Parker]

The Map Cutout Art of Joanathan Bessaci

Published on by Jonathan Crowe
Joanathan Bessaci, “Waiting.” A collage of map cutouts that form a portrait of a face in negative space.
Joanathan Bessaci, “Waiting”. Galerie Jamault.

The art of Joanathan Bessaci includes maps cut out and layered to form images.

I presently work with old Michelin maps dated from roughly 1920 to 1970. I use old French Michelin maps because I like their color and texture but also because for me, they symbolize the roads that various family members have taken to get to France. My maternal grandmother emigrated to France from Vietnam and my paternal grandfather emigrated to France from Kabylia (Northern Algeria). I myself moved to Washington D.C. from Paris in August, 2016.

I was also drawn to old French Michelin maps because I have been surrounded by objects like them since I was a child. Both my father and grandfather have stands in Lyon’s largest flea market and I spent long hours there as a child and adolescent. Many of the maps that I use come from Lyon’s flea markets and others throughout France. 

My work presently consists of cutting portraits and other images into several maps. I chose my maps very carefully and try to integrate their geography, including lakes, rivers, oceans, roads, highways, parks and city centers into my images to highlight certain visual elements. Each of my pieces is made up of multiple maps which I cut out and layer on top of each other in between pieces of glass to create depth and texture.

It’s astonishingly well done. Bessaci’s maps often form images of animals, or people in motion; motorways intersect at locations on the body that evoke a circulatory system. The effect is even more dramatic in his anatomical works, where the map layers draw out hidden bones.

Here’s a time-lapse video of Bessaci creating one of his works:

An exhibition of Bessaci’s work, Mapping the Soul, wrapped up last week at the Zenith Gallery in Washington, D.C. It can also be seen at Galerie Jamault in Paris.

Another Look at Matthew Cusick

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Matthew Cusick, Genevieve's Wave (after #3884 by Pierre Carreau), 2014 Inlaid maps on panel 40 x 62 inches.
Matthew Cusick, Genevieve’s Wave (after #3884 by Pierre Carreau), 2014. Inlaid maps on panel.

Creative Boom, an art an design blog, has a brief profile of the artist Matthew Cusick that focuses on his recent ocean scenes. I first blogged about Cusick in 2006; he’s even better now. If you’re not familiar with his art, which is constructed from collages of old maps, you really owe it to yourself to take a look. A close look. [via]