VFF: Using maps to ask questions & make change

Like many visual forms, maps have a complicated history - sometimes they're used as tools of domination and oppression, other times as ways to build a more just society. As a cartographer, trying to follow the side of the line which bends towards justice is not always easy. Counter-cartography advocates making maps that ask questions more than they answer them, in an attempt to unseat dominant spatial patterns and ways of thinking. This talk will present a few case studies of counter-mapping projects I've been involved with, both as a member of the 3Cs Counter-Cartographies Collective and as a freelance map-maker. I'll walk through some of the techniques I've used (both high and low-tech), and some of the difficult (and often unanswered) questions that come up in trying to do mapping as part of social justice work.