Cartography does much more than trace the shape & form of the physical world.  As much as a map is a drawing symbolizing physical space, it is also something that informs us of all that has transpired there. Gilded. Manhattan. is made from a cutout MTA map that has been gilded with 22-carat gold. It is my interpretation of this abstraction, of this referent, of my beloved city and its truly unacceptable politics of inequality.

 

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Additional Information:

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The 1st images were taken from the web, of two women who were part of the 99% movement, holding up their signs.  The final photo is of a homeless man, I photographed on the street.  The papers were made with embedded cutout pieces of the MTA bus maps that I filigree cut to make this small edition.

 

Texts:

1st text is by Mark Twain, from "The Gilded Age, A Tale of Today"

2nd text is my own about the seven cities of gold

My text printed on the map:

 

The puppet performs.

Fear of the unknown is replaced with fatigue.

We were like pigs in shit, he declares, and now what?

And then without waiting, he lists three possible answers:

1. The dreams are gone

2. We are tied to the end of a clew spinning round

3. We are stuck inside the gilded cage with no clew to lead us out.

I love this place.

Real-time information.

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Judith Trezza gilded the cut maps.