Mirror World map is a personal project I worked on to process the past few years of traveling.

In Medellin, it’s on display for the AIRE exhibition as a political pop up show to bring awareness to the pollution problems of the city. I described it as a way to take belonging and responsibility of our cities and ultimately our world – that they’re both reflections of ourselves individually. That individual ideas spread to friends, families, cultures, telescoping outwards from there so the slightest actions and ideas are magnified.

This is the opposite of the mindset that most people have. Anything outside of the door of our homes has nothing to do with us and can’t be changed.

For me personally, I look at the shiny map and see endless possibilities and excitement. A world waiting to be explored. On the other end, the more I take advantage of it, the more my reflection is cut up and energy is dispersed geographically.

I have people and places I love in San Francisco, Boston, New York, Medellin, Saigon, Barcelona and so on. I take a careful effort to make sure that if I’m spending more than a few weeks to be contributing to the communities and people around me. In some senses, I’m leaving small traces of my philosophies to a diverse group of people and making connections between cultures in novel ways. In other ways, I’m not staying long enough to have much of an impact.

This idea that I can hop on a plane and go anywhere is amazing, overwhelming and so new, that it needs to be considered carefully. For me, the map is a beginning of a new chapter and reminder to keep traveling, but to do it thoughtfully and purposefully. To dig in as much as much as I reach out.

(If you visit Medellin after October 2016, you’ll find it on display at Hostel Ondas for the time being. )