Camille Serchuk
Camille Serchuk is a professor of art history at Southern Connecticut State University. She received her doctorate in art history from Yale in 1997, where she focused on images of medieval Paris. Since then, her research has focused primarily on the relationship between painting and mapmaking in late medieval and early modern Europe, with particular attention to the ways that artistic techniques and practices both enhanced and undermined the authority of cartography. The links between cartography and painting in 16th century France are also the subject of her recently completed book manuscript.
Border Control: Cartography and its Frames in Early Modernity, 1500-1650
Her project explores how frames and border motifs animate early modern cartography and provide an interpretive lens for the mutable image of the world. Because knowledge of geography and sovereign boundaries were constantly in flux, frames enhanced the authority of maps that were almost immediately made obsolete by new exploration or conflict. As a new appraisal of the assertive role of the cartographic frame, the project will recuperate the agency of cartographic ornament, enhancing the legibility of early modern maps.
Have a look at Camille’s research poster about her project.