«A map provides no answers. It only suggests where to look: Discover this, reexamine that, put one thing in relation to another, orient yourself, begin here... Sometimes a map speaks in terms of physical geography, but just as often it muses on the jagged terrain of the heart, the distant vistas of memory, or the fantastic landscapes of dreams.»

​

Miles Harvey, The Islands of Lost Maps: A True Story of Carthographic Crime

​

​

​

 

The title of the project, ‘Earth from Below’ is a reference to ‘Earth from Above’ a book by Yann Arthus-Bertrand presenting a collection of his aerial photographs, in which he captures vistas of our planet from various aircrafts. The resulting images are colorful, flattened, graphic and often abstract.

 

The images in this project have a similar geometric minimalism, however they were shot from the opposite angle — from below looking upwards at the sky — to capture corners of buildings all across Milan, Berlin and New York (all cities the artist lived in). 

​

Although not offering an exact representation of the city, these abstract maps could be more helpful than the traditional  ‘God’s eye view’ ones.

 

How does our memory work ? Are images stronger than words ?