World Map Artwork

I painted this colourful world map artwork on three separate canvasses, just by using the image of the world map on my laptop and winging it. I ended up gifting it to my parents, and it still hangs up in their house to this day. I felt it was fitting, seeing as thanks to them, I have lived the life of a traveller since the day I was born, thanks to their jobs in foreign affairs.

I grew up living in Yemen, Costa Rica and South Africa, and later lived in New Zealand, Australia and now Kosovo as well as an adult. 

The meaning of the colours

Every time someone sees this painting, they always ask me what the colours mean and I don't know how to answer them. Is it geopolitical? Is it about the environment? Is it about war or resources? Funnily enough, it's always a conversation starter because everyone projects their own concerns and values onto this painting.

My honest answer about what the colours mean is this. I paint intuitively, and associate certain colours with certain feelings. Subconsciously, yellow is a happy colour for me. These are places I feel drawn to exploring in the world. Whereas red is a scary colour for me, and these are places I'd rather not see or at least places I have some prejudice or aversion to. And Blue is kind of neutral! 

And then this brings me to my favourite part of the discussion on this artwork, what feelings do you associate with different colours? And which feelings do you associate with different places in the world?

Art can really bring people together, and help us connect all over the world.

If you would like me to paint a world map with your colour associations to different places, contact me here for a quote.