Jersey Fresh

On Wednesday, January 5th 2011, New Jersey governor Chris Christie approved a bill allowing confectionaries made with Jersey Fresh produce to carry the “Jersey Fresh” label. We’re expanding the label to include Jersey Fresh maps. From the state that brought you Robert Smithson’s “The Monuments of Passaic”1  (1967), Gordon Matta-Clark’s Splitting (1974), and Kevin Smith’s Clerks (1994), come five similarly destinctive approaches to the New Jersey landscape.2
The maps belong to the Hand Drawn Map Association (HDMA), a Philadelphia-based organization that archives and exhibits such “personal geographies.”3  “Today,” writes founder Kris Harzinski, “I think of the HDMA as more of a public art project devoted to sharing maps and the stories they represent through a wide variety of formats including exhibitions, workshops, and lectures.” Its latest format, the book From Here to There: A Curious Collection from the Hand Drawn Map Association (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010), belongs to a collection of titles devoted to pictorial mental maps—from Kevin Lynch’s 1960 book The Image of the City (one of Lynch’s cities being Jersey City) to Katherine Harmon’s You are Here (2003) and The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography (2009). You can find more Jersey Fresh maps in the HDMA book.
- Margo Handwerker

Via Scenic New Jersey
Anonymous, 2009
Courtesy of the Hand Drawn Map Association
In September 2009, the Hand Drawn Map Association attended Philly Zine Fest to collect maps from anyone willing to sit down with us at a folding table and draw. Some people would quietly sketch in front of us while others treated the situation more like getting a drink at a bar—sitting there was simply a reason to share a story with someone willing to listen. This map was drawn by one of our fellow tablers explaining his weekend journey from Brooklyn to Philadelphia. Rather than sitting at our table to work, he took this piece of paper, drew his map throughout the day, and handed it to us shortly before we left.

August Landscape
Dahlia Elsayed, 2009
Courtesy of the artist
Elsayed’s drawings are cartographic records of her personal landscape—revealing intimate, idiosyncratic details from her life. This map shows three interconnected fragments representing the essence of her experience while living in New Jersey during the month of August.

North vs. South
Jeffrey Silverstein, 2009
Courtesy of the Hand Drawn Map Association
Silverstein drew this map for the HDMA while visiting our table at the Baltimore DIYFest. When prompted to draw a map of where he came from, Silverstein, a native North Jerseyan, quickly sketched an outline of his home state. He added a line near the Trenton area to reveal a familiar rivalry between the northern and southern parts of the state.

Getting Home
Susan Liedke, 2010
Courtesy of the Hand Drawn Map Association
Susan drew this map after getting lost on her way home to Philadelphia over Thanksgiving weekend. She writes, “I stayed with this boy in Brooklyn [who lives at the point marked 88*R]. We had pancakes in the morning, which was really nice. On my way home, I had plans to meet another friend for coffee (at the Clover Club, also in New York). Then the plan was to just cross the bridge, hop on the New Jersey Turnpike and get home in time to write an enormous paper for school. Instead, I missed the bridge, ended up in Coney Island, got directions again, then got lost in a very very dark, woodsy part of the state, and had to figure my way out of there, no phone, no GPS.” Eventually Susan found her way home via the Ben Franklin Bridge blaming the ordeal partially on herself and partially on the chaotically organized state of New Jersey.

So You’re Leaving Home
Caitlin Macrae, 2010
Courtesy of the Hand Drawn Map Association
Macrae created this flowchart after relocating to New York City and living there for three years.4  Beginning with a brief layover in Grad School/Guatemala, she charts her journey within the city focusing mainly on her professional life, love interests, and her search for the perfect apartment.