Since March, I’m working in parallel with two or three different mappings. Here some sketchwork pictures:

March 29th; sitting outdoors during a partial solar eclipse, manufacturing a cardboard maquette for a three-dimensional map. Half a yellow sun then found its way to one of the sidepieces.

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April: following the maquette study, the real construction began. Parts of an old door with flaking paint provided the material. A mountain with a house on top was fitted into the chest, and a vaulted papier maché lid added.

Then, painting. There should be a flower pattern on the doors – a hibiscus would make sense. I tried copying a design from a printed textile by Wax Mama.

Design (detail) by Wax Mama ®

Hibiscus Archeri (illustration from The Garden, weekly journal of horticulture, 1899); source Wikimedia Commons

Also, the ocean surrounding all continents had to be visualized inside the chest.
May came and went. Inbetween the construction steps of the chest, I tried to figure out how to best turn an emergency blanket into a mirror – for the making of another, embroidered map…

…before returning to the world inside the chest. Now  summer is in full bloom, and this one is nearing completion… More to come.