ON The Map

By: Adeline Jubi

Here Be Dragons - Adeline Joubert

I have always been fascinated with Maps. I remember as a young child I used to study a huge Reader’s Digest Atlas in my father’s study, for hours. I love Old Maps, New Maps, Fantasy Maps and even Mind Maps. They played a huge part in my spatial orientation since I am as we would say in Afrikaans “rigting bedonnerd” (Directionally Challenged). This runs in my family, there are quite a few highly intelligent family members that can’t instinctively tell the difference between left and right. It is commonly known as left-right-confusion. For this reason maps are a very handy tool to navigate around the planet, you just turn them facing the direction you are going in to see if you need to turn right or the other right. Plus Maps are beautiful and I love the feel of the paper they are printed on.

A few years ago I started using maps in my jewellery; the idea was sparked by my very creative husband, Tertius.  It started with Map cufflinks and brooches and pendants and then spread to incorporating motor vehicles and Traffic signs in jewellery. Quite a few Road Atlases and “Pass your Learner’s Licence Easy” manuals were destroyed in the process. Studing maps can be very entertaining since South Africa has fascinating and very funny place names like: Koekenaap, Pofadder, Groot Drink, Groot Doring, Koffiefontein (the birthplace of my mother), Loeriesfontein and Soebatsfontein to name a few.

Reads Gallery in Rosebank, Joburg is celebrating their centenary by hosting a special exhibition that opened this week. Fine Ounce as well as a few of the members in their personal capacity has been invited to take part in this special event. The theme is “year of the dragon”. I interpreted the theme by using old Nautical Maps that sometimes had the warning HBD (Here be Dragons). This was a warning to brave and adventurous seafarers about the dangers of unchartered territories where Sea Monsters and Dragons lurked. The maps are framed in ornate silver frames and the pieces were inspired by Renaissance jewellery pieces, my favourite.

Airport and Traffic sign Cufflinks - Firepetals

Traffic sign Cufflinks - Firepetals

The South African artist, Gerhard Marx, has been cutting up maps for years and reconstituted them by literally drawing with the fragments. It is breathtakingly beautiful works of art. Roads become lines and figures emerge like pen drawings, only it is collage. I cannot imagine how long it must have taken him to create these works.

Speaking of fragmented, my mind has been quite fragmented from stress and excitement. We (Firepetals) have been selected to exhibit at IJL (International Jewellery London), a trip sponsored by the Dti (Dept. of Trade and Industry). We have been running around trying to finish orders, making stock, getting Visas etc. We hope that the show will generate orders for us and above all, put us On the Map.

Gerhard Marx 's Sheet #2: Horizontal Figure 2 (1995) on the cover or Art South Africa