Flora and Fauna Outgrowing the Future

Tiffany Chung’s map drawings are abstract and complex representations of landscapes that have been affected by processes of urbanization, industrialization, natural disasters, and large-scale warfare. The crafted components of her cartographic drawings include reticular ornamental forms that convey a sense of organic growth, like a fungal spread under the lens of a microscope. For the artist, the extreme level of technical detail and crafted beauty in these drawings speaks to the urgent, at times frenetic, desire for modernization and progress, which in turn can cause dire effects for human populations and ecological systems. This drawing represents the artist’s vision of the future of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, as development and climate change impact the ecology of the river system and its communities.