The contemporary visual literacy of mapped place: chorographic directions, links and analogies

Abstract

Although often unacknowledged in art practice as such, chorographic visual literacy, based on a long established pictorial and semiotic representation of mapped place, is now being repositioned as a contemporary mapping process by artists. This modern visual language destabilises traditional mores, realises the nature of ephemeral place and questions patterns of human occupation through symbolic emblems of mapped place. Artists continue to source and re-constitute historic chorographic elements to be decisive reflectors of contemporary place. However, the messages are, by clear intent, quite removed from the original meaning of mapped medieval and early modern political, cultural and theological directives. Apart from this re-emplacement of chorographic symbols, artists are also creating new visual semiotic elements of place that pertain to contemporary culture. This paper analyses the complex and philosophical processes of modern chorographical applications in today's art practice. With a focus on the realisation of chorographic identity with contemporary visual discourse, this paper discusses art forms in digital media and other creative formats that map and inform audiences of wide ranging issues. Through an analysis of specific contemporary art works, this paper argues for the acknowledgement, direction and implications of chorographic discourse in a modern understanding of place.