Discarded Maps Recycled Into Impressive Human Portraits

It’s quite impressive to think that some people out there go out of their way to recycle their old things into new ones. It doesn’t really matter what it is, they seem to find a use for it anyway. Sometimes the new use is even better than the old one. It’s easy to be amazed by the Steampunk creations that suddenly have a new and refined value to the user, even though the way they are used is pretty much the same.

It is when old things become something entirely different that you really know you have managed to recycle something. What’s even more impressive is that most of the time there isn’t a lot of refining necessary to make something useful again.

Nikki Rosato knows all about this, and it becomes quite apparent when you see what comes out of this brilliant artist and designer. By just using a few discarded maps, Nikki managed to create amazing human portraits by just following the roads, borders, lakes and everything else you find on a map. The process is quite simple; however, I can imagine it is very time consuming to try and find the right paths in order to create something that resembles a human profile.

Not only has Nikki managed to create wonderful and inspiring art using just maps, this designer even tamed the 3D perspective in the maps by carefully cutting and folding the discarded maps. I am just beyond amazed by what you can create with just a little imagination, a boat load of time, some discarded maps and a pair of scissors. It’s not often that I get so mesmerized by art like I am with the 3D cut portrait at the bottom. That right there is pure genius! This is definitely awesomeness defined.

The mindset behind the art can be described by quoting Nikki saying:

“Our physical bodies are beautiful structures full of detail, and they hold the stories that haunt and mold our lives. The lines on a road map are beautifully similar to the lines that cover the surface of the human body. In my most recent work involving maps, as I remove the landmasses from the silhouetted individuals I am further removing the figure’s identity, and what remains is a delicate skin-like structure. Through this process, specific individuals become ambiguous and hauntingly ghost-like, similar to the memories they represent.“