Mapping
"Mapping 1" is a contemporary reconfiguration of Sebastian Münster's 1628 allegorical map, "Europa Regina." I encountered the source map—which depicts Europe as a female figure with Bohemia at its center, symbolizing the glorification of the House of Habsburg and expressing a general hope for peace—while researching my grandmother's suppressed flight story from Starý Rokytník to Germany at the end of World War II.
I intervene by cutting the map and incorporating narrative elements that allude to my own artistic memory work, thus moving beyond the map's original political or later didactic functions. This physical manipulation of the rigid cartography asserts the flexibility of geographical depictions against claims of cartographic "objectivity," proposing a more bodily and subjective understanding of mapping ideas and relationships.
Mapping 1
2024
Fine Art Print on paper
60 x 80 cm
Exhibited at House of Arts, Ústí nad Labem as part of IDENT 4. 12. 2024 – 8. 3. 2025 and Gallery Karin Sachs, Munich as part of Archived ruptures – Ruptured archives 28. – 29. 11. 2024
Created as part of the residency at the House of Arts, supported by The Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem and Schafhof Europäisches Kunstforum Oberbayern
“Mapping 2” explores the elusive building of my own memory and its connection to identity construction, translating it into a figuration. My encounter with Petr Růžička, a Czech punk singer, activist, and record publisher in Teplice in 2024, initiated my reflection on the desired but not available aspects of my identity. This process continued by investigating objects in my family home as mediums for the critical handling of my family's memory work, aiming to articulate the quieted understanding of relationships reflected in my environment.
Mapping 2
2025
Fine Art Print on paper
13 x 18 cm
Exhibited at Schafhof Europäisches Kunstforum Oberbayern as part of Transformation | Fokus Europa VI 01.03. – 27.04.2025
