Antarctic Thesaurus
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cartography changed changeover Casey coccolithophorid connectivity convergence crevasse crinoid
cartography
Stephen Eastaugh S.E.W.N. CARDINAL POINTS (2002)
I have sewn and painted a pattern based on the cardinal points of cartography. Antarctica is a place where mapping is still a major element of research. Locating oneself in this white wilderness is highly important and rather tricky. I am fond of maps, always have been and there is indeed a relationship between art and cartography as they both attempt to make meaning of the world or communicate information. The similarities between maps and art revolve around both attempting to give information. Turning the unfamiliar into the familiar. It is presumed that the first scribblings in the dirt by humans were maps.
Unlike cartography which is concerned with location, law and information. I concern myself with dislocation, experimentation, imagined space and mystery. The grid pattern I use is also influenced by Tongan tapa designs. I wanted in some way to make a raw Antarctic art as someone had to do it! There has never been any indigenous people on the Ice, very little art has been made in Antarctica. This work uses cartography and pattern to try to locate myself somewhere somehow.
Stephen Eastaugh, Artist with the Australian Antarctic Division. Amsterdam 06/01/2007
