I will be making a map of sorts for exploring my topic, and an accompanying exploration kit.
I will be focusing on the plant life — wildflowers, trees, etc — that are found in and around Chicago. A map helps people navigate, explore, find things, locate themselves and other things, orient oneself, and capture a moment in time. Some maps include transportation routes, trade routes, and points of interest. Mappe mundi, a form of medieval map, also include history, mythology, different animals/species/peoples, and are not terribly focused on literal locating of things.
I will be leaning into the navigating, exploration, and orientation aspect. I want to make a map that might help someone orient themselves in the world of the diverse plant species that surround them. I’d like to help them explore these plants, become interested in them in order to build appreciation, and ultimately care enough to help protect them.
In making this map, I will be subverting the focus on precise location and finding things. I don’t want people to be able to use it to specifically locate anything, I would like them to be exploring instead. Instead of focusing on the more typical built environment or on humans’ points of interest, I want to focus on non-human elements. I am not sure yet what metaphors I will be employing.
In making this map, I will need to do some exploring myself. I will put together a “kit” for this exploration and will document that as part of my project.