Intricate portraits from maps
American artist Nikki Rosato creates intricate portraits from maps by cutting away at old maps, leaving only the roads and rivers behind like a network of blood. According to Nikki Rosato, distance often separates people. Meanwhile, these connected lines represent the roads – either explored to bring these figures together or left untraveled. And further symbolizing not only their physical distance but also psychological and emotional space.

Artist’s statement:
Our physical bodies are beautiful structures full of detail, and they hold the stories that haunt and shape our lives. The lines on a road map are fascinatingly similar to the lines that cover the surface of the human body.

“In my work involving maps, as I remove the landmasses from the silhouetted individuals I am further removing the figure’s identity. And what remains is a delicate skin-like structure. Through this process, specific individuals become ambiguous and hauntingly ghost-like, similar to the memories they represent”.

The figures in the Connections series find themselves bound by the roads that both separate them as well as lead them to one another. People are often separated by distance, and these connected lines represent the roads that are either explored to bring these figures together or left untraveled, further symbolizing not only their physical distance but also psychological and emotional space.

Intricate portraits from maps

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