Imago Mundi, ceramic, 245 x 460 cm 2022
Imago Mundi speaks about union, borders, migration, inclusion, community. Art is activism. The map is a representation of a place, it traces a complex history of migration, trade, physical changes to land and territories. New generations create changes that continually shift our readings of the world map. It is since the 80’s that we had our first photo of the world, nicknamed ‘blue marble’, taken from outer space. Before that maps were all drawn by artists, sometimes combining ideas of the spiritual and the celestial with empirical cartography. The first drawings of the world come from Babylon, carved into a clay tablet, we have ‘Imago Mundi’, our first image of the world in the 9th Century BCE.
This work is a large ceramic tile mural featuring 1035 tiles hand painted by children in the local community at Hogarth Centre and a charity called West London Welcome helping individuals who have suffered a breach of human rights or who may be fleeing their home. The wall is a permanent fixture, it’s a permanent mark that says ‘we are here’ – each with their unique characters, stories and experiences. Imago Mundi is a moment to celebrate the union between people, it is made by a collective, where they could change something, where they had control.