The fabric squares in this series of pieces are made from recycled t-shirts that I hand dyed colours of an Irish ordinance survey map. Conceptually, I liked the way used garments fit into my mapping work as they are part of a worldwide industry and the garments I used likely traveled through multiple counties before arriving in my possession. 

Layering became important in my work as I learned that 2D maps are formed in layers, concentrating on one element at a time, for example, elevation of land, then land use, then roads. It is a culmination of layers of separate information that form a map. The layering also relates to strata – the sediment, rock and soil that creates the earths surface. Having the fabric cut in 10x10cm squares relates to the land that is represented in a map being bound by a grid structure. In some of the pieces in the series there are shadows cast by a skeletal road map balancing on the top of the fabric. This alludes to the ephemerality of mapping, the fact that everything is constantly changing and the impossibility of a true representation of our world. 

I used pins throughout the series as a tool for expressing journeys and markings. Pins, for me, have a close relationship with maps; I will always want to mark in where I have been in the world with a pin.