In a world revolving around digital definitions and designs, our eyes accustomed to scanning the screens have easy access to information, making old world tools and skills recede back from our routines and memories.
It was a novel moment when the show “Maps Unfolded” opened in Hyderabad on 13 September 2024. Prshant Lahoti, a vintage map collector and co-founder of Kalakriti Gallery, curated the innovative exhibition, having collaborated with Delhi-based artist architect Ankon Mitra, who had coined the term ‘oritecture’ earlier. The artist, who is a trained architect and practices as a landscape designer, has been enthralling art lovers for a while, fusing origami and architecture in a unique way through his sculptural art.
The show was envisaged to celebrate maps by highlighting their value and exposing the layers they hold, bringing back their romance and significance that remain within their layers that are often concealed and also revealed.
The stunning, aesthetic, and intriguing ensemble of art, architecture, geometry, history, philosophy, and old-fashioned cartography is on display, breaking the monotony of maps being viewed for academic or scholarly viewing. By its unique presentation, it effectively got maps and the art of paper folding into conversations and dialogue, and by their diverse forms, it metamorphosed across the gallery spaces.
The maps folded, contorted, and put on display were sourced from external agencies and also from the gallery’s own archives, creating fascinating realms that caught one’s imagination.
Beautiful and descriptive globes on show served to remind us that maps commonly viewed in a flat 2D flat format are less engaging, but when presented in a spherical globe, they lift up with a 3D immersive effect.
Historical and contemporary maps of India’s intricate rail and road networks shaped like gigantic roots and branches caught mid-air were placed inside a mirrored room that reflected the works, causing a multiplied effect signifying the meaning of endless and infinite, making it immersive for the art lovers.
Paper-cutting techniques from Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus came alive in vibrant flowers that reflected the interconnectedness of humanity across cultures. Religious and pilgrimage maps from Kalakriti Archives were pleated to create vessels and urns touching on the spirituality and routes of pilgrimage by the arrangement and connectedness of maps in a common fold.
Illustrated maps of the constellations in a white and blue milky way also showed myriad faces of moons when viewed from the other side. Colonial maps of urban areas and cities from the gallery’s archive stood transformed as a collection of lighting design objects.
A pop-up series of much-sought-after heritage architecture of Hyderabad made from old tourist maps placed on golden fabric appeared eye-catching. They included well-known heritage spots like Golkonda Fort, Falaknuma Palace, the Spanish Mosque, and other prominent buildings.
Many other shapes and forms based on paper folding techniques of Japan, like origami and kirigami, allowed interesting interplay of shadow and light. The one-of-a-kind show is open to all till 5th October and seems to serve to demystify the romance and magic of maps and bring greater understanding of the science, craft, and skill behind paper folding and concepts of spaces and dimensions.
The writer is an independent contributor