Linda Elshami

There Is No Map: Virtual Walks in a Vanishing Landscape

There Is No Map is a body of work that contributes to an ongoing investigation of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank. The work is manifested in optic and haptic modes of representation; it embodies a geopolitical struggle using critical and methodological graphic design praxis and an interdisciplinary approach that integrates cartography and architecture. The production of occupation hinges on the Israeli spatial practices that continuously shift, construct, deconstruct, segregate, and shuffle the landscape of the West Bank. These practices are present in the continuous building of settlements, gates, checkpoints, and separation barriers; pouring concrete becomes an act of casting political ideologies and a condition for the expansion of Israel. The exhibition examines these spatial practices close up and at a distance. As such, the work examines the landscapes, both geographical and political, of the West Bank as a (site) through performing virtual tours (sight) using Google Earth.