Diffusion is a series if drawings which map Manchester and its environment by merging the visual language of cartography with microscopic images of the internal body. The work looks at the ways in which people construct cities and are in turn affected by the cities they inhabit. It questions notions of enclosing spaces through fixed boundaries by drawing attention to the porosity of the body.

The artist developed the drawings following research with geographical information systems and datasets such as air quality, noise levels and car ownership in Greater Manchester. The final ‘maps’ explore relationships of scale: from the micro to the macro; from climate change to inter-cellular change.

Maps are partial representations of a complex world. Decisions about what to include and exclude are intrinsic to map making. The visual language of map making is both utilitarian and artistic. This work sets up questions about the relationship between the visual representation of data and how it is understood.