I created Azimuth Salish Sea in the long tradition of Mappi Mundi from the old world.  Before the length and breadth of the globe was know, cartographers would use all of the information available to them to create the first world maps.  However, religious dogma and contemporary thinking would inevitably warp these maps, creating worlds of striking simplicity in design and fantastic near the boundaries.  With these concepts in mind, Azimuth Salish Sea was born.

Of the elements in Mappi Mundi, the center of the world is one of the most fascinating.  Essentially an azimuth view, (sans regular measurement) these charts placed oneself in the heart of the world, often the eastern Mediterranean in European forms, with the various waterways subdividing continents and country.  By designating a “center,” the view of the world is always colored by the close-at-hand, meaning that only because of the starting point is the world the shape it is.

Based on Lopez Island, my world, too, is like a Mappi Mundi.  The Salish Sea is my home, the place I know best.  My thoughts and contemplations of the rest of the world are not only less accurate, due to distance, but also shaded by the life I lead on Lopez.  Therefore, so too is Azimuth Salish Sea: accuracy not only diminishes as the chart leads from the center, but also distorts, stretching and warping the distant lands and seas. 

Another feature of the Mappi Mundi were also the fanciful creatures that would inhabit the seas and borders.  Some of these sea creatures were interpretations of real accounts of animals, others were simply copies of creatures on charts from before, and still others were metaphors and anthropomorphisms.  Azimuth Salish Sea adopted the tradition of placing four winds in the corners of the map, each in the form of a human, their influence cycling throughout the year.

Azimuth Salish Sea is a tribute to the lost form of the Mappi Mundi, touching some of the hallmarks of the form as it recenters the world, creating a conscious shift in the observer’s sense of place and surroundings.

Azimuth Salish Sea is a mixed media horizontal scroll, 46+” by 33+,” on vintage, proprietory-treated, chart paper, mounted on linen.