The Lost Treasures of Isla del Coco

A monochromatic exploration.

With this rather big, analogue map (~1mx1m) I want to carry on the tradition of innumerable treasure maps of the Isla del Coco: for centuries, countless treasure hunters have taken on adventures to recover the mysterious treasures suspected on the island – only due to treasure maps, written records or stories. Therefore the map deals as well with the relationship between maps and reality: maps are usually made to depict something that is as close as possible to reality, but at the same time they also shape and change perception of the reality, and therefore reality itself.

The monochrome representation, the graphic style and the colour are inspired by a stamp of the Isla del Coco from 1936, which I came across at the beginning of my research. Through the fine, small-scale signatures and the degree of detail - despite the large format - the audience is invited to get very closely to the map, in order to finally dive into the history of the mysterious treasures of la Isla del Coco.

The map "The lost Treasures of Isla del Coco“ was made in the summer term 2019 for the course „Project Map Creation“ under the supervision of Dipl.-Ing. Manuela Schmidt at the Research Division Cartography at TU Vienna. I feel very fortunate that "The lost Treasures of Isla del Coco“ got featured in the Atlas of Design V published in 2020 by NACIS, at the MonoCarto 2019 and the Ravenstein-Förderpreis 2019 – Thank you so much!

The map is available for download as PDF (6.7mb).