Silences on Maps Exhibition

Silences on Maps is an exhibition that reveals the hidden facets of Brisbane City.

Generally, maps are considered visual records of specific historical moments in the city. However, they have often excluded and erased groups, identities, and social issues that are not aligned with the creators of these maps.

Geographer J.B. Harley (1988) referred to these instances as “silences on maps”. Historical examples of such practices exist in various places worldwide, particularly in Australia, where the proclamation of Terra Nullius erased Aboriginal people, culture, and identity from the map creating a tabula rasa for colonial practices. Countering these practices, scholars and artists used counter-mapping techniques to map marginalized groups in cities, such as refugees, LGBTQ, and other underrepresented social and ecological issues.

Based on in-depth research on the architectural history of Brisbane’s demolitions in the 70s and 80s and the bordering practices of refugee resettlement within Brisbane and Logan regions, this exhibition proposes new mappings of the city using architectural and artistic mapping methods.