Collaboration Vision

Maps describe places.  Sometimes the descriptions help us get around.  Other times, they evoke the beauty, history, and traditions of places and the people who live there.  Historically, maps were often drawn by explorers and colonizers, reflecting their political agendas, cultures, and even language rather than those of the local people.  Through this project, local artists create maps that reflect and celebrate their cultures and experiences, sharing their own stories of place and community.  

The World Maps Collaborative works with local artists to create evocative maps of their cities, regions, and countries.  Mixing traditional cartography with the abstract and experimental, our maps celebrate local culture and voices.

When you buy a map from us, you will receive a unique, interpretation of the places our artists call home. The maps also are a way for customers to celebrate their connections with a place that has been significant to them.  Profits from the map sales go directly to the mapmakers, so your purchase supports artists around the globe.

Historically, maps were not only navigational tools but also works of art influenced by geological, cultural, and political forces.  With the development of GPS, it is now difficult to find artistic maps that summon the intimacy we associate with  traditional cartography.  The maps created by the World Maps Collaborative artists celebrate both precision and creativity, the truthful and the abstract.   By displaying a hand-drawn map, customers celebrate their connection with place.