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© Copyright Paul David Holland 2017

The following is a small selection of recent works which play on our fascination with maps, and the way that maps draw us into their landscapes and the histories hidden within them, even when we are unfamiliar with the places they portray.


The viewer at first presumes these to be genuine maps, but on closer inspection, the works are revealed to be complete fabrications, filled with themes and riddles, jokes and provocations. Certain areas, for instance, are made up of names, which, read aloud, follow the course of the Northern Line or the names of 007 actors, Beatles albums or famous operas. Some maps are constructed around a certain place, others feature political figures and ideas, others trace a line through space exploration and sci-fi; yet others are filled with insults…


As well as further scattered interjections and quotations, in the shapes of the landscapes one finds traces of Roman roads, mediaeval village lanes, obsolete trunk roads and obscure B-roads. Railway sidings, pre-Beeching lines, former harbours and traces of town walls are also there to be discovered, as the viewer begins to sense the underlying layers of history which stretch across our own English landscapes.

corsham theme map 2012.jpg Owess.JPG DSCF0576.jpg Kilnfarn.JPG roy collard map.jpg Empire 2012.JPG renaissance map 2012.jpg insults map 2012.jpg moon map 2012.jpg map 3 retouched 2012.jpg DSCF0581.jpg barking and mull.psd