ARTIST STATEMENT

My practice investigates the conceptual and poetic implications of mapmaking, specifically, how mapping technologies frame our experience of the physical world. My current interest is in the nature of the amateur explorer via virtual representations of the world through satellite maps like Google Earth. The “desktop explorer”, surveying remote regions from familiar territory, serves as a contemporary substitute for the popular archetype of the historical adventurer. In my work, I raise questions about the virtual experience of the world through printed media, sculptural objects and video installation.

My work frequently references places that do not exist in the physical world, such as phantom islands and other invented geographies. Sandy Island, a nonexistent landmass that persisted on traditional and virtual maps until 2012, is the basis for a former body of work, including an installation imagining an absurd expedition to the island featuring an inflatable boat filled with seemingly useless store-bought frivolities. My work continues to investigate technological dysfunction in virtual mapping; a current project examines the accidental shadows sometimes visible in Google Street View, cast by the car-mounted camera used to record panoramic street-level imagery. Included in this body of work is Sentinel, a black vinyl installation which magnifies and abstracts the shadow onto the floor of the gallery, serving as a reminder of the constant surveillance by contemporary mapping technologies. Through these works, I aim to explore the relationship between the mapped image and emerging notions of exploration, virtuality, and the simulated environment.