Subjective map of embajadores, madrid
MA Illustration - map based on own (subjective) observations of surroundings, 2018.
The idea to create the subjective map of the district in Madrid called Embajadores emerged from the research focused on the keyword 'Ways'. I analysed the chosen word, going through literal and abstract definitions and connotations.
I directed my research into the connection between cartography and illustration, its historical influence and presence in the contemporary practice.
My aim was to find the way to visualise my own way of perceiving the surroundings and depicting them as they were memorised with all inaccuracies and distortions that we create in our minds in order to understand the space around us. My task was to try to give a sense of an atmosphere of the place and, therefore, creating a fully subjective map, that loses the qualities the scientific map is obliged to have, such as proportions, directions and scale.
The final outcome gathers together all the elements spotted in the analysed area of Madrid that reflect my mental map of the selected neighbourhood. Visualised are the elements that caught my attention while walking through Embajadores - murals, objects on the shopping counters, buildings, architectural dominants, sculptures, people etc.
My intention was to create a narrative using different shades of colours that change going from bottom to the top. It was meaningful to me that the higher the elements are located, the warmer and brighter the hues. Using the colours in this manner was not a coincidence, neither were the course of the streets. The chosen direction was supposed to give an impression of going from bottom to the top, making the viewer interested in where the roads lead to. In reality, they go to the centre of town, in the direction of ‘Puerta del Sol’.