The Hand Made Map of the World

Central School and Slade School graduate, Tam Joseph was born in Dominica and migrated to England in 1955. His work explores the many and multi-faceted inspirations, aspirations, and contradictions that shape contemporary realities. 'The Hand Made Map' of the world playfully reorders conventional geographies, blurring boundaries and suggesting new and unexpected possibilities for the world political map. ‘Painting is about looking and interpreting and interpreting and looking again. It’s about scraping back to go forward,' he has observed. A version of this painting was first presented as a billboard at the 2014 Edinburgh Art Festival and also forms part of a series of responses by artists around the city and online to mark the dates (30 July - 30 August) at what would have been the 2020 Festival (cancelled due to the world pandemic).