Colour Atlas of the World is a series of intaglio prints made by Roch-Cuerrier with pigments collected from a National Geographic Atlas. The pigments were meticulously removed from the supporting pages of the book using very fine sandpaper, with the goal to use them in her own printing ink. The prints originated and are often presented with two other works: National Geographic Atlas of the World and Colours for a World.
Mixed with solvents and oils, the pigments are then used to create a series of unique intaglio prints, fixing them to another page and in a different context of understanding. Each sanded page of the Atlas corresponds to a print. It is an abstraction of the original content of the Atlas in a series of colour swatches. The simplicity of the monochrome swatches reconfigures the World previously illustrated in the Atlas: it opens up the interpretation of these colours to a new potential. The resulting shades are muted and powdery, reminding us of the origin of the pigments and the process by which they were created. These colours are not pure: paper pulp is attached to them. In Colour Atlas of the World, the cartographic specificity of the map is converted into the poetic ambivalence of a work of art.
Individual titles: The Universe, Planet Earth, World Oceans, Physical World, The World
JULIE ROCH-CUERRIER 