About the VMDH
Why is the map upside-down?*
*[It is not yet upside down. We're working on it] The South-up map is a literal reorientation that invites an epistemological one. The conventional cartographic orientation is just that: a convention, dating from the early modern era and the so-called Age of Exploration, when oceangoing Europeans learned to use magnetic north to navigate. This map visually resets the harm of historical periodization, in which continents and countries were "discovered," rather than invaded, colonized, and exploited, their authochthonous peoples subjected to genocide. Its arresting strangeness invites reassessment of narratives privileging wealthier nations in "the global north". It is visible mending of cultural bias.
The Visible Mending Digital Humanities Project (VMDH) is a research tool and a practical resource. The searchable world map is a perpetual work in progress, with markers for repair projects of all kinds. We wish to promote mending, to preserve precious resources, to collate and connect repair-related academic projects, and to unite professional menders with individuals seeking their services. You are warmly invited to add a project to the map. Read more about mending...
