A blog that catalogs the Grassroots Cartography art exhibit curated by SEA Change in Portland, Oregon, USA in May 2009. www.seagallery.wordpress.com

This exhibit featured maps

• of where our food comes from locally and globally
• comparing unemployment rates of past and present recessions
• representing different definitions of sustainability
• of Los Angeles’s water systems, demonstrating how it drains streams
• countries where the us has dropped bombs
• blank maps of Portland that the audience filled in
• of places where communities connect, these places were mapped by audience members
• of future worlds that thrive sustainably
• demonstrating the use of public transportation increases when access to it increases
• personal bike routes through Portland
• of “Portlandness”
• different countries’ land claim to Antarctica, and how their claim is disappearing as the ice melts.

Intention of Exhibit: How can maps help us understand, shape, and gain perspective on the world we live in? These cartographic interpretations and visual conversations seek to:

• effectively quantify the positive and negative effects we have on the world
• depict the health of our world today in reference in to the past and future
• emphasize the subjective nature of map making
• connect communities
• democratize our ability to shape the world we live in