A woven canopy hangs suspended above the heads of diners at Deli X, a cafe on Deptford High Street. Although apparently abstract, the lines and knots map out the location of power networks in Deptford, stretching from the Thames to New Cross Road. At dusk as darkness creeps over the courtyard, a network of glow-in-the-dark fishing-floats glimmer in the web. This network matches up with the location of constellations above the courtyard at the end of September.

“You’re part of a system that is wondrous and on which you depend…for most religions, it’s not about trying to control the world, but seeing that you are dependent, part of a bigger system…” 

– Neil MacGregor

The title of the piece refers to the 2014 Forward Prize-winning collection of poems by Kei Miller, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, in which a Cartographer and a Rastafarian dispute the properties and capabilities of mapmaking in asserting control over territory.

Read an interview on the British Council blog here.