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Mind Your Mapping
At the most basic level, maps are projected abstractions of space provided to communicate a message. This message most often aids in instruction, navigation, and basic spatial understanding. It is important that we are mindful of the maps that we use, as they are always part of a larger narrative and have been created by individuals – individuals that have been shaped by their social environments. Maps are not bad, but they are abstracted projections of reality. As designers, projection and abstraction (the two fundamental rulers of our post-modern world) should be met with grave caution.
In creative practices, abstraction is persistent, all the while tied to systematic violence and racism. It may be time we take a deeper look at the means and methods used concerning spatial representation as incarnations of our shared, constructed world.
This year, on September 4th, the United Nations General Assembly voted to adopt the “Equal Earth” projection as the official predominant world map. The map, presented to the UN by the nation of Togo, on behalf of the African Group, was adopted by a vote of 164 to one, with six countries abstaining, and one forlorn, unsavory vote against the change by the “United” States. This projection, unlike the Mercator projection which we have used for 457 years, displays the oceans at their “true” size and more accurately represents Africa and Greenland relative to other continents and landmasses on the Earth.
It is unnecessary for me to present a deluge of issues with Mercator and the vast circulation of his map in the colonial period, because Mercator and his work are strictly a product of their environment; and that environment is a period of torturous colonization, European enlightenment, extreme discrimination, and racial violence. I do take issue, however, with the fact that we, as a supposedly progressing and “developed” society, have chosen to continue the circulation of this map for 457 years; even after we began taking satellite imagery from space in 1959, and moreover following the release of the Equal Earth projection in 2018. It has subsequently taken eight years to come to a global conclusion that it is time for humanity to adopt a new projection.
Writer and journalist Lerato Mogoatlhe of Africa No Filter shared with the BBC, “Africa's misrepresentation on world maps is not just a cartographic error – it's a narrative issue,” describing it as the “world's longest misinformation and disinformation” about Africa. Africa No Filter is one of the primary organizations that has advocated for the adoption of the Equal Earth projection since 2024 with the #CorrectTheMap campaign.
Ironically enough, the adoption of the Equal Earth projection as the “official predominant” world map does not cease the use or circulation of the Mercator map; it simply offers a globally agreed-upon alternative to an outdated visual representation of something that has now been deemed to be inaccurate. It is needless to say that we live in a time when misinformation is running rampant, and many people would prefer traditionalism rather than authenticity, but there is importance to be stressed in design professionalism that how and what you abstract in representation has very real consequences for perception. Almost laughably, there are somewhere between 15 and 23 generations of people that earnestly believe that the continent of Africa is smaller than the island of Greenland. All the more sorrowful are the generations to come that will continue to trumpet this belief despite the presence of more accurate representation available to them (ignoring the 10% of Americans that still think that the Earth is flat…).
Nonetheless, until next month,
stay BAD.d
Written by Keren Dillard-Taylor