Desmond Lazaro
Dymaxion Map III Vasco de Gama, Christopher Colombus, Fernao de Magalhaes and James Cook, 2018
pigment paint on Handmade Sanganeer paper, with raised gold gild
55 x 35 in
139.7 x 88.9 cm
139.7 x 88.9 cm
Copyright The Artist
Fuller’s Dymaxion map was published in 1943 as a DIY kit in Life magazine constituted of eight triangles and six squares. This mental construction is based on an alternative comprehension...
Fuller’s Dymaxion map was published in 1943 as a DIY kit in Life magazine constituted of eight triangles and six squares. This mental construction is based on an alternative comprehension of the world, which abandons the Mercator projection and its use of the equator as the reference line. Its aim is to minimise the distortions of conventional representations of the earth and their embedded cultural biases. Inspired by Fuller’s non-hierarchical approach to geography, in which there is no up or down, no north or south, these three-dimensional Dymaxion maps are rendered in the form of an icosahedron mobile. Lazaro transcribes onto the icosahedron his family’s migration route in the 1950’s from Burma to the United Kingdom and set it against the great maritime voyages of Vasco de Gama, Christopher Colombus, Fernao de Magalhaes and James Cook – explorers who, followed their Arab, African and predecessors, instigated modern global trade.
Exhibitions
2018 ʻPlanetary Planningʼ curated by Devika Singh, Dhaka Art Summit, The Dhaka Biennale, Bangladesh
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