Mappa 1983

Alighiero Boetti made this ‘Mappa’ by working with Afghan craftspeople, resulting in a textile that's both map and tapestry. The flags of different nations spread across the map, each rendered in the colors and patterns of their emblems, stitched with what seems like playful precision. The silver background shimmers, and I wonder if it’s supposed to remind us of the sea, or perhaps the potential of the unknown. The countries themselves are densely packed, sometimes bleeding into each other, which maybe reflects the shifting and overlapping nature of political power. Look how the flags have been translated into thread, there are so many different stitches and textures that speak to both individual skill and a collaborative effort. It makes me think of those Gee's Bend quilters in Alabama, who used found materials and improvisation to create these incredibly powerful abstract designs. 'Mappa' becomes a shared space, a testament to both national identity and collective creation. It reminds us that art, like the world, is always in process, constantly being re-sewn and re-imagined.