Making a Subjective Atlas of Palestine: On participative design and situated mapping

Abstract

AbstractThis paper offers a reflection on the design ethos and process behind the production of the Subjective Atlas of Palestine – the third of 15 Subjective Atlases that I have facilitated over the past 20 years as a graphic designer and initiator. They are bottom‐up cartographic publications that map countries, regions, or cities through the perspectives of local inhabitants, emerging from participative production processes where communities map their environment through myriad visualisations, such as graphs, maps, drawings, and photography. Unlike conventional mapping, this methodology for counter‐mapping fosters a place‐based understanding grounded in lived experiences, and promotes plural representation. How can designers facilitate collective imagination as a practice for counter‐mapping and reterritorialisation? In solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for a life of dignity and justice, I reiterate the creation and dissemination of the Subjective Atlas of Palestine as a timely reminder of cartography's implication in generating and sustaining a violent geopolitical order in Palestine–Israel.