Paula Scher

'Philadelphia Explained', 2015:

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"For ‘philadelphia explained’ scher asked students to join her in graphically describing the city they know and love. the participants were each given a portion of the map to complete, adding their own level of detail to scher’s larger graphic outline.

scher created a map that provided the basis of the installation, with additional details painted by 154 tyler students and other participants"

(Butler, A., 2015)

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"scher’s portions of the map comprised the floor (104 panels), while the remaining 154 panels were completed by students. there were actually more panels than student participants, so 21 pentagrammers—members of scher’s team and other staffers—jumped into the mix to finish the balance.

each panel was approximately 56″ by 42″ and was printed with a portion of scher’s original map. participants painted in their details with blue and white acrylic paint.

to create a cohesive environment and maintain a certain degree of consistency, the designers put together a set of guidelines for the students to follow that advised them on the scale of their strokes—highway brush strokes are wider than street strokes—and lettering. the participants were encouraged to use google maps to identify the landmarks and street-level detail of their area."

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(Butler, A., 2015)

I love the collaborative nature of Scher's work and found it fascinating to discover more about her process of making and working collaboratively. The way that Scher transitioned from idea to large scale was insightful and it was useful to hear how she used model making to devise how her graphic map would fit within such a large space. The collaboration with the students really makes this piece unique and beautiful as the personal experiences and input of each student is valued in their own panel, forming a warm canopy of humanity.

Interview with Scher (Farris,J., 2016):

"Q: It was your father who inspired your interest in maps, correct? Tell me a bit about that.

A: He was obsessed with accuracy. He was the one who told me how inaccurate maps were. He was a scientist, and his specialty was photogrammetric engineering, the science of the camera and how it captures imagery. And he invented a device that was called Stereo Templates that made the camera lens capable of correcting distortions when you blew up aerial photography—and the mathematical equation [to calculate them]. The device was like three holes cut out of a piece of cardboard; it was a measuring device.

As a matter of fact, if it wasn’t for that invention or something like it, there would be no Google Maps because it’s all based on that ability to see and try to correct. But he said the Earth is curved, and photography is flat, so what you see isn’t really what’s there.

The idea that information has complete accuracy is a mistake. People shouldn’t rely on it, and I know that as a designer. It’s not all the news that’s fit to print; it’s all the news that fits. Everything is edited. Why is a newspaper the same length every day? It’s a decision to include or not include.

But more dangerous than that is actually the way we look at data now. You look at data separate from an author. It used to be that you would look at charts, diagrams or maps in relation to some other text that it was in support of to prove a point. You could find out who the author was and then understand the point of view that this was supporting.

Data isn’t neutral—it’s gathered, which means someone is editing it. So we look at data on a computer today: Someone will make a chart, and it might be right, but it’s not literal fact. You don’t know what factors are included or not included.

My map paintings are nothing but opinion. I’m controlling the data any way I want, and I’m blatantly open about it. I’m using it to create an impression of something. I’m in control. If something doesn’t look good there, I don’t put it in.

How do you decide what goes into each map painting?

It’s aesthetic, and also emotional. I describe it as “abstract expressionist information”—taking information and manipulating it to create a sensibility.

I don’t really plan it out. I look at a number of maps about a given territory. [For the recent exhibition “U.S.A.”], I did it largely because it was an election year, and I’m fascinated by statistics and the way people vote and the way people think and why they think that way.

I really just began looking at the country and population centers and what’s near something else: where’s the North, and where’s the South, and where to they meet, and what do people think about when they’re in the middle? Like, if you take the state of Illinois, it’s completely fascinating because you think about it as Chicago and Barack Obama’s home, and the very bottom of it is probably this very reactionary place. And it’s border between Kentucky and Missouri is an area that’s probably fairly racist and grim, if you want to make generalizations about people and geography.

When you look at things like that, you gain a sensibility about why things exist and how they happen and why we are the way we are, and it’s right there on the surface of the map."

(Farris,J., 2016)

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'Demographics and Economy', 2016, Image Source (Banks, T., 2016, Design Week)

I like the way that Scher questions the original function of map to delve deeper into the information and experiences which take place at a ground level. The fact that she collaborates with communities and also undertakes wider research into areas and important statistics makes her work take on a purposeful stance and also renders accessible heavy information. The more you peer into her work, the more you discover. I only wish that I could visit some of her pieces in real life to gain a fuller appreciation of the detail and information within her art.

References:

Butler, A., 'Philadelphia Explained', in Design Boom, June 12 2015,< https://www.designboom.com/art/philadelphia-explained-paula-scher-06-12-2015/ > accessed 2021.

Farris, J., Chaotic Maps and Liquid Identity: Straight Talk from Paula Scher, 2016, <https://www.printmag.com/design-inspiration/identity-design-maps-paula-scher/ >, accessed 2021

Banks, T., 2016, 'The maps convey spirit of a place', in Design Week, https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-february-2016/paula-scher-the-maps-convey-a-spirit-of-place/ (accessed 2021)

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