Flight Weaving 

A discursive visualization of migration, geography,
and memory

Challenge

How do we transition between cultures? Air travel provides the opportunity for moving from one place to another in a way that feels immediate, efficient, and disconnected from the Earth we fly over. This project maps recorded flight routes over the geography they pass over to explore the connection between sky and Earth through a process of making that is slow, cumulative, and based in reflection.

Process

This data visualization project evolved with research into traditional dishware and basket-weaving practices across cultures. Tapping into my background in international relations and the experience of my own immigrant parents, I imagined the way globalization transforms how we experience new places and how physical geographic changes can alter our sense of space and belonging.

Outcome

The woven vessels are physical maps of flights that record the journeys of immigrant populations around the world. The journey between where one comes from to where one moves to is steeped in sacrifice, struggle, growth, and loss. These woven nest structures are moments of reflection of those journeys. They are souvenirs of transitions made.