The Secret Lives of Maps: Artist Finds Stories in Geography

Ingrid Dabringer transforms normal maps into whimsical people and creatures, using paint to reveal their hidden shapes

As a hopeless lover of maps, creative cartography and, especially, maps as art, I was utterly enchanted by the work of mixed-media visual artist Ingrid Dabringer, who uses acrylic paint to draw—or, more precisely, find—extraordinary, playful characters and vignettes in ordinary maps.

"I like to elevate the mundane. The Mundane is so saturated with meaning if we just take an extra second to dwell on it. The Mundane is saturated with symbolism." ~ Ingrid Dabringer

Some of Dabringer's magnificent map paintings, most certainly on par with The Map as Art, are available on Etsy, or you can contact her directly for originals.

This post also appears on Brain Pickings.
Images: Ingrid Dabringer