Maps

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Arts and Culture, Features

The following are a series of maps that are intended to bring to light different visions and memories of the Ashby/Shellmound encampment community. Though this land remains, the community that residents built there has largely disappeared due to a series of encampment sweeps by Caltrans and the city of Emeryville. However, the sense of place that residents found there remains in people’s minds. These maps are intended to help capture and preserve those memories—and share them with the wider world.

Transportation map of the Ashby/Shellmound interchange 

A straight forward google maps image of the encampment area from above. The land is represented by blocks of green, the water by blocks of blue, and the roads as white lines. The highway forms two thick stripes toward the left of the image, and the freeway offramp is a large circular loop that divides the land up into misshapen islands.
(Google Maps 2022)

Hand-drawn maps and personal landmarks

A bunch of scribbles, aarows, and lines of different colors. These scribbles are six hand-drawn maps of the Ashby/Shellmound encampment drawn by the participating artists drew. There are also text boxes describing particular points on the map. The text boxes say things like "best view ever" and "this is a good place to have privacy"
Six hand-drawn maps that the participating artists drew on individual sheets of vellum that were placed on top of a transportation map, such as the one on the opposite page. These six maps were then superimposed to form the image you see above. Orange map by Laura Berry. Green map by Grimm Mercer. Red map by Ashley Frankum. Blue map by Ray Leichter. Purple map by D’art Lloyd. Pink map by Pat Thomas. 

Text map, made up of quotes from the six participating artists

A basic google maps image shows the encampment area from above. In this map, all the roads and land masses have been filled in with quotes from encampment residents, which appear in different colors.
Text map created by Suzi Garner. Satellite image beneath from Google Maps, 2022. 

Painted maps

An abstract painting by Dart on top of the google maps image of the space. The general shape of the land areas can be made out, but the painting is an abstract array of greens, blues, reds, oranges, and pinks. A skull and crossbones near the top marks what Dart calls a "poison lake."
Personal Map of the Ashby/Shellmound encampment area with freeway exit, train route, shoreline, and poisoned lake. Acrylic and marker on Vellum, 2021. (D’artagnan Lloyd)
An abstract painting by Ashley on top of the google maps image of the space. The general shape of the land areas can be made out, but the painting is an abstract series of broad brushstrokes in rainbow colors.
Personal Map of the Ashby/Shellmound encampment area with biking paths, location of tent and friends’ tents, and a Pacman ghost. Colored Pencil and Paint Markers on Vellum, 2021. (Ashley Frankum)