Atlas Altera is a cartographic exercise in alternate history for reimagining a modern world where cultural differences flourish despite the predominance of the nation-state. The atlas is described using an approach inspired by the tradition of chorography or regional geography, more in line with that of Carl Ritter than Vidal de la Blache or Friedrich Ratzel. And though it is grounded in history, the project diverges in that, as Aristotle observed in poetry, instead of depicting things that have been or as they are, it describes things that might be.

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In recognizing the power of the political map to invigorate and erase, and in being pragmatic with territoriality, Atlas Altera makes use of the nation-state as a base unit to illuminate the diversities in our own timeline—peoples and their languages, knowledges, wisdoms, practices, traditions, beliefs—which everyday threaten to vanish. Unlike irredentist fantasies, Atlas Altera is about making room for those that lost out in the drawing up of borders. It makes space for marginalized cultures and populations. The project stems from a belief much like Richard Rorty’s, that to take meaningful action is to depict the past in new ways. Here, it is not just the past but all that exists which is renewed.