The "Earth" without "Art" is just "Eh"

My Drawing:

Sorry, I couldn't flip it to landscape!

Introduction

Artist: Agustina Woodgate

Title: The Times Atlas of the World (Book)

Date: 2012

Medium: Sanded World Atlas

Size: 515 pages; Large book

Stylistic period/culture/context

When: 2012

Where: Argentina

Subject/Iconography

A World Atlas with borders sanded out is represented in this work; the idea/concept is that even though we as humans tend to create borders and separate ourselves from one another, in the grand scheme of things, the world does not actually have real lines that define "borders." Borders are just concepts formulated by humans that allow us to "own" land and "property."

Style/technique

The artist used sandpaper in order to "scrub" away the borders in between states and countries. The art is arranged as is; there is nothing else to draw your attention other than the art itself. As you flip through the pages you can feel the smooth texture of the paper in comparison to the other parts of the paper that weren't sanded down; paper itself seems smooth until you compare it with something softer and easier to tear. This, in and of itself, may be a metaphor of how the world was softer and gentler before borders - before it became rough and harsh. But, we can't tell it's rough and harsh because we haven't experienced it when it was smooth and gentle.

Significance/function/purpose

The purpose of this piece is to show how the world would look if there were no borders. When drawing this picture, I realised how vast our world is; it tends to get lost in the all the sections and bordering. Drawing blobs of land made me feel more connected to the other blobs of land in the world (oops, we can't have that, now can we? We might start thinking of people in third world countries as our equals). I never left the state of North Carolina until I was about 10 years old. When I was younger, I never doubted that if I did cross a border into, say, Virginia, there would be a big bold line right where the border was. To my disappointment, there was merely a sign that read, "Welcome to Virginia!" and that was all. I believe that at a young age we are taught that there are borders not only between states and countries ideologically, but mental borders, as well, between each other. There are borders between races, gender, and sexual orientation; if one tries to cross such borders or speak to someone outside of their border, then there are rules and regulations in place, just as there are rules and regulations that I must follow if I cross the border from America to Canada. And, just because I might be ignorant to the laws in place, that doesn't give me a free pass; I will be punished just the same for whatever actions of which I partake. The main idea is that we as humans feel the need to set up these completely platonic borders in order to ensure that everyone has a place and to ensure that everyone stays in their place. The value of this piece of art in today's society is that it is a metaphor of the borders between different "classes" of people as well as showing that borders can easily be scrubbed away over time.