Mapa ng Kapangyarihan at Gahom (Map of Power and Hegemony)

In the 16th-19th centuries maps were important in empire-building as visual representations of a colonial power’s expanding territory and wealth. The drawn borders distinguished the territories claimed by European colonisers and marked their control over local peoples and natural resources. Cian Dayrit revisits map-making in his contemporary art practice to trace the shape of imperialism in our post-colonial world, the web of power and money that controls resources, lands, and capital globally. Dayrit translates these new maps into embroidered tapestries or as drawings on colonial-era maps.

In Mapa ng Kapangyarihan at Gahom, (2018) Dayrit appropriates the imagery and language of local animist talismans or anting-anting to illustrate how the ”global north" – represented by the International Monetary Fund and developed countries that manage and support it – continues to exert power over the “global south” through policies that enable them to control and extract capital and resources from the developing world.