Spaced Out :: 2024

Mike J. Smith (2023)
Journal of Maps

Last year – using the metaphor of running – I touched upon the nature of creativity and how it can be comprised of two elements: the application of a learned skillset and the joy of practising it. By repeatedly undertaking map making, and exercising these two elements, we can – as cartographers – produce new visual endeavours that present our imaginings to a wider audience. For a practising painter or photographer, this might simply be the development and production of something they find interesting that satisfies their creative drive, however as academic cartographers it is the beginning of a conversation with our readers.

Mike J. Smith (2022)
Journal of Maps

Any act of self-expression involves some form of creativity, be that devising an experiment, writing a research paper, taking a photograph, creating a screenplay, or sketching a drawing. They all involve the utilisation of a practised skill – or set of skills – which are varied in new and different ways to produce something unique, something original, where we are able to push beyond the bounds of what currently exists in order to bring into the world a new entity, thought, idea, or experience.