Atlasesque is a digitized collage that utilizes etymological restitching of familiar cartography as an alternate way to view the world.

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Project Statement:

Atlasesque is a digitally collaged map resembling a modern-day European map, containing amalgamations of each country's capitals and other cities with their names. Danielle posed the question: Why were some cities a source of inspiration for dozens of cities and towns on a global scale while others were left alone?In this project, individual cities are spliced from Google Maps and modified to focus on name-related city sites. Photoshop-generated clusters of 51 country capitals and city-state capitals along with their respective cities across the globe with the same names created the map as a whole. Atlasesque addresses eurocentrism through the designation and etymology of city names in North America. The map highlights 18th through 19th-century American and Canadian educational systems that lacked an emphasis on world history and offers another lens on the impacts of colonization.In accompaniment to the digital work, a poly-silk fabric displays the map through a sublimation technique. The physical map parodies the cartography that favored the enhancement of Europe over other continents.

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Artist Statement:

Danielle Epel is a Jewish-American multidisciplinary artist based in Queens, New York. Her experience as first-born American influences her work and how she deconstructs tradition along with assimilation in New York City. She primarily utilizes sublimation heat-pressing, Photoshop, printer-scanner art, and board-game design to convey satire and parody in digital and physical form. She interweaves themes such as etymology, cartography, religion, capitalism, and consumerism throughout various projects. Her art explores how viewers can play connect-the-dots with all of the fragments that shape postmodern history and the contemporary world.Her process involves questioning everything from city names, street signs, Internet captchas, subway ads, and more to redefine their meaning. Danielle approaches all of her projects with the same intention, for the viewer to leave behind what they know and become immersed in what is between the lines. Her event coordination highlights her artworks and brings together like-minded artists to cultivate a post-pandemic community.