Artist's Description

This piece juxtaposes a linguistic map of the northern Indian subcontinent and western Tibet atop an unlikely canvas: a road map of Texas. Each point in Texas corresponds to a point on the opposite side of the world (India/Tibet), exactly 180 degrees apart on the same latitude. Because of this, the India/Tibet portion of the map is a mirror image. This overlay creates an interesting dynamic on the map, dividing Texas into a multilingual patchwork, with each color representing a distinct Indo-Aryan or Sino-Tibetan language or language group spoken on the other side of the world.

Included for reference are various cities, peaks and landmarks of Texas (in pink) and India/Tibet (in black) to show their overlaid locations opposite each other. This leads to some interesting comparisons: For example, Austin, a live music and hippy mecca, is almost exactly opposite Rishikesh, India, the “yoga capital of the world” where the Beatles once studied meditation and composed most of the songs in the White Album. King Ranch, the largest cattle ranch in the United States, is sandwiched between Delhi and Agra (home of the Taj Mahal), where eating beef is, well… less than common. The emptiness of West Texas (in yellow) is similar to the emptiness of the western Tibetan Plateau. Coincidentally, even the University of Texas at El Paso is renowned for its Himalayan-inspired architecture.

Residents of Corsicana, Texas (population 24,000) may be surprised to learn that they live opposite the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala. Most denizens of Delhi (population 25 million) are probably unaware (and rightfully so) that they live almost 180 degrees from the famously underwhelming Alamo and “Come and Take It” cannon from the Texas Revolution at the same latitude.

The map invites viewers to explore two worlds at once, 180 degrees of separation brought together.

Media: Acrylic and ink on Texas road map

About the Artist

Champ Turner is a freshman at Brown and currently undeclared. His interests include visual art, geography, anthropology, languages and environmental studies with a particular interest in cartography. A Texas native, Turner’s work draws on themes of place, culture and seeks to highlight geographic curiosities.