It was never meant to be a mere experiment in map-making. I wanted to explore layers of concepts. Autobiography, cartography, and pictography—though each distinct in scope, here bleed together to create a reaction, which outruns the simple sum of its parts.
The cartography work here reveals bits of my personal story, my home—my autobiography—as elements within a to-scale map of my Central Minnesota neighborhood and other favorite parks and points of interest along the Mississippi from Sartell, MN to St. Cloud State University surface. Geography eventually gave way to pictography and symbol-making, as bird images emerge. They are pointers for the presence of Spirit here on earth-- “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17). The Spirit-work depicted here mysteriously transcends the complexities and chaos created by mere manpower. Webs of concrete grid-work (humanity’s attempt to permanently establish the work of its hands) are brought into perspective. Really, how permanent is 2nd Avenue NE when juxtaposed to the ancient paths the Mississippi River has been carving these thousands of years?
We are left with questions about the lines we make versus the ones God makes. Where does His grid-work end and ours begin? Where do the lines overlap? How do they cooperate? In the big picture, what kinds of stories do our little lives tell and how do those stories fit together to tell the larger narrative of all people? Distance, time, and perspective help us see these emerging pictures where a gracious God not only watches with us, but participates with us in the unfolding.
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.” Psalm 46:4-5
