An Atlas of Hearts: The Stories of Eleven Cartographers

Samantha Brown

The world of maps is about much more than geography. Some maps focus in on a specific piece of information about a

particular place. For example, cartographer Denis Wood created a map that showed which houses in his North Carolina

neighborhood displayed jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. Other maps might provide a means for a person to get from one place

to another, using the global positioning system, or GPS. When using maps to gain a comprehensive understanding of a place, it

is often necessary to consult more than one. While a Peters map projection accurately reflects the size of the continents on

Earth in relation to one another, the popular Mercator map projection shows the correct shape of the continents but distorts

their size in the process. An all-encompassing map of a particular place does not exist; however, that might depend on our

definition of place.

I asked eleven people to draw me a map of their heart and tried to leave the parameters of interpretation as open as

possible. If your heart was a place, how would you draw a map of it? I personally interpreted a map of the heart to encompass

all the things I love and believe in, a challenging feat to accomplish on a single piece of paper. The heart maps often read more

like a story or profile rather than a geographical (or anatomical) representation, but some include geography and anatomy

within them. The following maps depict a visual and textual representation of an abstract concept. After all, when people use

the word “heart,” they are often talking about much more than the organ responsible for regulating the flow of blood. Can a

drawing of a person’s “heart” truly encompass his or her nature of being? Most likely not, but the following maps do provide a

unique insight into the lives of their cartographers.

Cheryl, 57, New Jersey

According to Sean Hall in This Means This This Means

That, “the stories we tell about the world can always be

presented from different viewpoints” (164). Each heart map

reflects the cartographer’s viewpoint based on how they

interpreted the assignment and the individual’s

idiosyncrasies and experiences. For example, the maps

created by Cheryl, my mother, and Jess, a colleague, show

both sameness and difference. Both provide color coded

sections that are labeled to represent what is important to

them. Both maps also include the shape of a heart combined

with anatomical features of the heart as an organ. Upon first

glance, what is important to Cheryl and Jess appears

somewhat similar, but if we examine the viewpoint of the

individual more closely, we find that their interpretations of

the assignment were actually quite different. Moreover, how I

choose to present the message that I interpret in the maps further complicates the viewpoint and creates noise in the

transmission of the message from the sender (or cartographer) to the receiver (you). However, in his book Everything Sings:

Maps for a Narrative Atlas, Denis Wood discusses how the sequence of maps in an atlas helps to forge its meaning. Wood

explains that the order in which the maps are presented creates a narrative, and even if the order is changed, a new narrative

will emerge. Even so, this very commentary alters the message by offering a direction for interpretation, but please, by all

means, try another path, or

several, if you so desire.

Jess, 23, New Jersey

Cheryl divided her map into four main sections including “body,” “soul & spirit,” “love,” and “other (stuff),” which

implies that she viewed a map of her heart as a comprehensive portrayal of her being. The four main sections, noted in the

legend or key, are further broken down by using more specific words to define what they mean to Cheryl. The section “Love”

relates to people that are important in Cheryl’s life, including family, friends, and specific people within those categories. We

might assume that from Cheryl’s viewpoint, the people she loves play a large role in defining who she is. Jess chose to divide

her heart into many different sections each with a separate label, which implies that each section in Jess’s heart corresponds to

something she loves. By examining Jess’s viewpoint, we can assume that the size of each section reflects its importance in her

life. The sections “family” and “friends” are much larger than the sections labeled “cats,” “movies,” and “Philly.” Therefore,

Jess’s presentation shows us the story of her life based on the people, places, and things she enjoys most.

In Alyssa’s map, we see several images depicted—a road that branches off into different directions, a person in a car, a

lion, a tiger, a leopard, and a child lying on a bed. However, the images that are depicted may not necessarily equate to what

they represent. We can assume that Alyssa does in fact like big cats because while only one lion, tiger, and leopard are drawn,

they are each labeled in the plural form. Therefore, one big cat represents the species as a whole, but her overall interest in big

cats may further represent that she enjoys travel or exploration. The person in the car is labeled “road trips/safaris,” which

shows us that Alyssa is aware of the fact that the image does not necessarily correspond to its literal representation. She wants

us to know that the person in the car does not simply mean she enjoys riding in cars. Moreover, Alyssa labeled the child on the

bed as “kids with heart problems.” This represents not only a cause that is important to Alyssa, but also an overall sense of

compassion and empathy depicted through the image of a sick

child. As Peter Turchi explains in his book Maps of the

Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer, a mapmaker faces

unlimited possibilities in how to present the message or

information he or she chooses to relay. In other words, the

cartographer must narrow down these possibilities by making

deliberate decisions about how they wish the receiver to

interpret the message. Alyssa’s younger sister, Mirella, chose to

fill her heart entirely with cookies and labeled it as such. While I

believe the message in Mirella’s map is that she loves cookies

(particularly chocolate chip), I wonder if this image correlates to

a fond memory of baking or eating cookies, perhaps with her

family around the holidays. My viewpoint as Mirella’s cousin

enables me to infer that her love for cookies extends beyond its

literal meaning, or perhaps, Mirella simply loves the taste of

Alyssa, 11, Alabama chocolate chip cookies (and who could blame her?).

Mirella, 6, Alabama

Caiya, 4, Alabama Ellen, 32, New Jersey

Melissa, 27, Colorado

Dan, 27, New Jersey Turchi goes on to say, “No matter whether we

adhere to or dispense with convention, we are engaged in

silent conversation with the reader about our choices” (93).

However, that does not mean that the reader (or receiver)

will always understand our choices. For example, the map

drawn by my cousin Becky shows a yellow field with a

forest in the background. Most readers may not understand

the significance of this piece of information, but as Becky’s

cousin, I know that she grew up on a farm. As children, we

spent a lot of time at her farm, playing outside in the hay

fields and climbing trees. As Becky’s cousin, I assume that

the image of the field in Becky’s map not only represents

her childhood home but also the plethora of memories

associated with it. Similarly, the map created by my

husband, Dan, features several specific images that

represent his sense of humor, but readers who are not familiar with the images may not understand his choice for including

them. One is a picture of me falling out of an artery at the bottom of his heart. The background has been removed from the

picture, so the average reader would not know that I was jumping off of a cliff into the Colorado River, hence the look of

extreme fear on my face. In fact, the average reader may not even know that is a picture of his wife; however, for us, the

picture represents a trip we took together and the hilarious memory associated with it.

Becky, 27, Maryland

Samantha, 26, New Jersey

Since many of the heart maps relate to memories, it is important for us to understand how space and time play a role in

composition. Each map reflects the cumulative experiences of the cartographer thus far in his or her life. We are aware that the

past is securely imbedded in each heart map. We also may realize that the present time in which the reader receives the

message effects its interpretation as well because the receiver’s cumulative life experiences at that point in time work to build

a dialogue with the text. However, our ability to imagine the future also plays a role in our understanding. For example,

Alyssa’s map shows a clear focus on her interest in big cats, but what if a month from now, Alyssa learns about aquatic

mammals at school? Would her map then feature dolphins and whales as a primary interest?

In the map I created, an artery that drips brown fluid is labeled “discharge of waste.” I included this to show my

awareness that things can change. People I once loved and considered a part of my “heart” no longer have a place within it.

While the idea of loved ones leaving our lives is painful, it is a reality that I felt needed to be accounted for in the map of my

heart. Changes in the people that surround us often coincide with changes within ourselves. Because I interpret a map of my

heart as a map of “who I am,” I chose to incorporate symbols and words as well as more abstract imagery to give it the poem-

like quality that Wood discusses in Everything Sings. Wood sought to create an untraditional map that could have resonance—

striking a chord within its reader. In order to do so, Wood believes he must “give up mapping pumpkins and map that

pumpkin, stop mapping lamp posts and map those pools of light” (15). For that reason, I asked each individual to map his or

her own heart, hopefully producing a resonance that the receiver feels and can reflect upon in a meaningful way.

Tori, 23, New Jersey

Works Cited Hall, Sean. This Means This, This Means That: A User’s Guide to Semiotics. London: Laurence King, 2007. Print. Turchi, Peter. Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer. San Antonio, TX: Trinity UP, 2004. Web. Wood, Dennis. Everything Sings: Maps for a Narrative Atlas. Los Angeles, CA: Siglio, 2010. Web.