Justine Smith, Money Map of the World MMXX – MMXXI, 2021
The significance of cartography extends far beyond traditional map-making; it is a vital tool for understanding our world. Justine Smith embodies this through her unique artistic lens where, in her work, cartography serves as a bridge to explore complex social, political, and economic relationships, through the medium of money.
Smith is known for her unique use of different currencies in her works. The Time is Money Map, commissioned for the “The Art of Mapping” exhibition in November 2011 by TAG Fine Arts, is one of the key representations of her cartographic work and the themes she is concerned with. This piece integrates actual banknotes into the mapping process, serving as a powerful commentary on money’s dual role in binding and dividing communities.
Justine Smith, Time is Money Map, 2011 (detail)
Smith skilfully highlights the pervasive influence of currency in our lives, illustrating how it can both create barriers and foster connections among individuals and groups. For Smith, money transcends its physical form. It not only embodies power but also represents the intricate societal relationships that shape our reality. Her cartographic artworks challenge viewers to reevaluate their understanding of value and the ways in which it manifests in both tangible and abstract forms.
Justine Smith, London International, 2026; The United States of Everywhere, 2016 (details)
Smith’s cartographic practice also plays with mapping our environments through botanical money sculptures. These pieces signal to money’s relationship with our environment and its wellbeing in the modern day, as well as nodding to how money impacts our “human nature”. Smith’s botanical sculptures have been featured in a number of exhibitions, including a recent show at Ashmolean Museum, Oxford ‘In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World’, which approached the subject of how plants have impacted economies, landscapes, and cultures through history.
Justine Smith, The Watchers II, 2025
Justine Smith, Specimen Helleborus Niger, 2023
In a world where money is often seen simply as a means of transaction, Justine Smith’s cartographic work encourages us to consider the deeper implications of currency in our lives. Her money maps explore the multifaceted relationship we have with money in our contemporary world, illustrating the power of contemporary cartography to express intricate relationships and socioeconomic issues.
Justine Smith, A Bigger Bang – Black, 2009
Contemporary Cartography 