Kathy Prendergast

In this work, Prendergast used aeronautical maps of Canadian lakes, weaving them together in a way not related to actual locations, but in reference to her own process. She deliberately rejected systematized orientation and classification, divesting the original maps of their coded information and merely transcribing the network of lines that convey the shape of the lakes. In this way the map no longer acts as an informational tool, but instead plots the artist’s imagination.

Irish artist Kathy Prendergast transforms commonplace items such as maps, bits of clothing, human hair, and household objects in order to draw our attention to issues of identity, political power, and individual experience. In this work, Prendergast used aeronautical maps of Canadian lakes, weaving them together in a way not related to actual locations, but in reference to her own process. She deliberately rejected systematized orientation and classification, divesting the original maps of their coded information and merely transcribing the network of lines that convey the shape of the lakes. In this way the map no longer acts as an informational tool, but instead plots the artist’s imagination.