This study of the interplay between identity, context, and environment explores the problematic question of where are you from? on a personal level.

Because many of us come from a mixture of geographies, ethnicities, and cultures, it is our self-proclaimed identity that matters most. We define who we are and where we come from. It does not define us. So if feeling-driven answers to the question of where are you from? can be more truthful than fact, can an imaginary map be more meaningful than a real one?

Using the pieces of my own geographic history, I constructed a new map that tells the narrative of my life. By rearranging these accurate maps into fictional ones, I play with the ambiguity between individual experience and factual reality, subverting the notion that we can know anything about a person based solely on where they’re from.

The outcome is a deeply personal art piece, a composition that is both a map of nowhere and a self portrait. It’s the narrative of my life, told through the abstract geometries of geography.

The centerpiece, a 7 x 3.5 ft printed map, is an answer to the question of where I’m from: no one place, many places; a nonsensical land of intertwining lines and vibrant colors.

The four views of each of the eight cities makes for thirty two supplementary posters, which serve as a map key.

I mapped out my birthplace and the many subsequent transitions that have brought me to where I am today, both physically and metaphorically.

︎ Selected map experiments that contributed to the final layout

The robust research on identity and geographic context was organized in a process documentation booklet. It also included insights, data points, map views, and visual experiments.

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