Multidisciplinary artist Clinton De Menezes created a fascinating landscape in this World Map installation. The artist used oil paint, emulsion, acrylic, plaster, and hand painted model figures to create the captivating piece, in which migrating crowds of miniature individuals form a larger land mass that is displayed from an aerial view. With extreme attention to detail, De Menezes hand painted 6,000 figures and then purposefully set each one into the plaster in order to collectively form the almost 30 foot wide map of our planet.
Having grown up in Johannesburg, South Africa, De Menezes says his work is “informed by the aesthetic, the history, and the changing socio-political attitudes towards the South African landscape and its visual representation.” With those influences in mind, the artist found ways to redefine regions and terrains, and brought to life a social experience between his tiny figures and his human audience. The artist says, “The work references how the individual is the building block for the collective, and how the collective creates the communities, countries, and continents that constitute the world map.” The installation can be appreciated both from a distance as one land mass, but also up close, viewers can observe the distinct details and meticulous placement of each small person and ponder the impact that every individual has on our planet.
