Infiltration

Mapping Inequality digitized and made publicly available redlining maps of over 200 metropolitan areas that the federal government created in the 1930s. Redlining maps categorized neighborhoods in four colors: green, blue, yellow, and red, i.e., in descending order of desirability for mortgage lending and investment. For example, lenders considered green areas safe for investment and mortgage lending. Red meant "hazardous" for lending. These red areas were most often colored that way because of the presence of populations the government and lenders considered "undesirable": Blacks and other minoritized populations, including immigrants. Residents in red areas generally were unable to take advantage of government-backed mortgages on favorable lending terms, which allowed equity accumulation – generational wealth; entire neighborhoods were largely denied investment opportunities. Effects of this practice reverberate to today. Aside from wealth accumulation denied to residents of red areas, they are still impacted by pollution and reduced green space.

Based on the Mapping Inequality collection, I'm drawing and painting images to present another way of experiencing history and how it still reverberates. Of special interest to me are areas that I am calling "hazardous islands" - or small red areas that were embedded in yellow, blue, and green areas, i.e., areas designated as being better investment risks. These islands existed often because a small number of families belonging to "undesirable" groups lived there.

My recreation may use colors diverging from the original maps to draw viewer interest. I may also aim to create a disturbance through breaking rules of composition.

The original maps are available at https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/, where you may also read about redlining. You can also read my two academic articles about redlining and pollution:
https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjrl/vol26/iss0/3/
https://law.lclark.edu/live/files/36203-5kangpdf