Portolan Chart #1

[Kishkindha]

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This totally hand drawn portolan chart styled map was inspired to me by the pages of the Nautical Atlas of the World by João Teixeira Albernaz (17th C.) whose discovery, last year, was a huge aesthetic shock.

As always, I didn’ t waste time to create an original toponymy and, this time, I took the words of a beautiful christian prayer that I heard from protestant pastor Jean-François Breyne transcribing them on the map which turned out to be a kind of illustration of this prayer (in French) :

“Père, dans cette période si étrange que nous vivons et que nous traversons, alors que nous nous affrontons à l’inconnu et à la mort qui rôde, donne-nous ton souffle, afin que nous puissions traverser la situation sans nous effondrer et sans désespérer et rester ainsi enracinés dans la confiance par la seule puissance de ton esprit de vie. Amen.”

The frame of the map reproduces with some personal interpretations patterns of romanesque sculptures from my homeland : doves and vegetal patterns of the main portal of Abbey of the ladies’ church of Saintes - France (12th C.) and the central part of the sculpted frieze of Marignac church’s apse (12th C.) France.

This context delimits the sacred space where the territories take their place like the breath of the prayer.

Following the supposed tradition, I drew the rhumb lines first and the territories then.