Leah Swenson

A map is a paradoxical tool that aims to orient, direct, communicate and represent. But much information is lost in translation when a map is used. In these works, I have re-arranged and dismantled maps and their keys. Adding indecipherable text from a Wheel of Fortune board game, I recreate my own nonsensical maps, stripping away their intended function. In them, my own feeling of wandering, unsure of being on the proper path (or whether or not there is one) is reflected.

This work wonders about cycles, using repeated imagery of circles cut from paper and traced in carbon. Cycles, habits, or thought patterns we create in our own lives can be seen as self-made maps, invented as we move through time. We are continuously creating new mental maps and worn paths, and abandoning old ones. Pantographs explores and appreciates the printed page and paper ephemera, as paper maps and charts become increasingly less relevant in our hyper-mobile lives.