Reproductie van een landkaart door Diogo Ribeiro before 1895

Curator: This reproduction of Diogo Ribeiro's world map, dating from before 1895, is striking isn't it? The intricate detail despite its age, it gives the impression of something precious that shouldn't be touched, due to the aged paper look. What stands out to you? Editor: It's certainly detailed! I am impressed by how much information they tried to cram onto one page, with the handwritten notes on the opposite page and the meticulous cartography, what interests me is, how do we read it today? Curator: The map becomes a palimpsest of power dynamics. Who decides what goes onto a map? Who has the resources to commission one, to distribute it, and whose interests does it serve? Editor: So you are thinking about its relationship to colonialism and the global political forces? Curator: Precisely. Ribeiro's map represents a particular worldview, a Eurocentric perspective that shaped the course of history. What appears to be merely objective geographic data needs to be viewed as actively creating knowledge, a gaze complicit in colonial expansion, it omits as much as it shows. It invites us to consider what narratives and which populations become marginalized or altogether erased through this representational format. What stories aren't being told, and whose perspectives are being ignored or actively suppressed? Editor: So we're not just looking at geography, but at the power structures behind its representation. It makes you wonder what a truly decolonized map would look like. Curator: Exactly. This map challenges us to critically examine all forms of knowledge production and its social impacts, by constantly inquiring whose interests this knowledge serves. Editor: Thank you, I have really learned from thinking about what is not show in the map itself and focusing on social background, so fascinating! Curator: I also got to reconsider this print in our current world with ongoing dialogues on decolonization of history and knowledge. Thank you!