Paper routes. All the swings in Harlem. Lost souls. The maps encased in Where You Are, the latest offering from the lovely ladies at London-based publisher Visual Editions, won't actually get you anywhere—but they sure are fun to look at.
Sixteen creative types contributed a personal entry for the collection in their own unique style of modern cartography. The gamut of mediums is represented—fiction (and non), painting, photos, illustration—and each can be experienced in an interactive internet edition as well as a print volume.
I'm still working my way through the different entries online and imagine exploring the paper copies would be a completely different experience. Because: Well, it's print, but not printed like a traditional book. Both versions seem engineered to be discovered in the same way you would put your feelers out at a new destination, in fits and starts, following leads then backtracking—a series of Choose Your Own Adventure tales crafted by storytellers with serious artistic tendencies and a deep love for design. It makes me miss the times I traveled with a completely crumpled fold-up map and a pen, annotating every damn thing as I went along.
Below are snippets of some of the selections; browse around, then let your mind wander to your own sacred spots for a while.
Places I've Nearly Been To But Have Not by Adam Thirlwell
On the Pleasure of Maps by Alain de Botton
Map of A Lost Soul by Chloe Aridjis
The Paper Route Empire by Denis Wood
Swings of Harlem by Valeria Luiselli
The Boy Out of Cheltenham by Geoff Dyer
Tablescapes by Leanne Shapton
A Map of Six Impossible Things by Lila Azam Zanganeh
Subtle Nows by Olafur Eliasson
Ghost Pots by Joe Dunthorne
Nature's Valley by John Simpson
Roads Not Taken by Peter Turchi
How to Be Good When You're Lost by Sheila Heti and Ted Mineo
The Lunar Hamsters of 8G-932 by Tao Lin
You can purchase a copy of Where You Are for a cool $50 here.