Entre Las Aguas (Between the Waters): Tracing Spatial Journeys in the Latin American & Latinx Collection of the NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
“Entre Las Aguas (Between the Waters): Tracing Spatial Journeys in the Latin American & Latinx Collection of the NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida” is a project authored by Diana Blanco, Aina Soley i Mateu, and Chase Caldwell Smith for the course "Geospatial Humanities: Digital Mapping and Critical GIS" at the University of California Los Angeles in Fall 2021, taught by Professor Wendy Perla Kurtz. The inspiration for the project's name comes both from the title of the cover image art piece itself, María Magdalena Campos-Pons ' De Las Dos Aguas (Of The Two Waters), 2007, and also from the journeys that the artists we traced in the project had gone on; between islands, from islands to mainland, and across oceans.
The project focuses on using Geographic Information System (GIS) to map and analyze the spatial movements of artists within the NSU Art Museum’s Latin American & Latinx collection. The primary objective is to trace artists' journeys across various geographic locations, including islands, the mainland, and oceans, by focusing on their birthplaces, places of residence, and work. The GIS mapping aims to offer new insights into the collection by visualizing the geographic context of these artists' lives, shedding light on overlooked aspects like gender and geographic origin.
My contribution
For the project Entre las aguas, I served as both project manager—a role shared among the three group members—and the content and story specialist. I oversaw the development of the site’s main narrative, ensuring that the data visualizations and maps were seamlessly integrated with the written content. This included writing section headers, captions, and the “About” section. I played a central role in shaping the project's analytical direction—helping define research questions, establish mapping priorities, and determine strategies for data cleaning and representation, particularly around gender diversity. While I was not directly responsible for the technical execution of the maps, I actively contributed to decisions around map design and data handling. I also coordinated efforts across the team to ensure a cohesive approach to content and analysis. Engaging with scholarly theory and literature on GIS, I helped build the project’s interpretive framework and identified key findings, such as the underrepresentation of female artists and the prominent presence of Cuban artists in exile. In the process, I also gained hands-on experience with tools like QGIS, Carto, and ArcGIS Pro, deepening my theoretical and practical knowledge in digital humanities and digital mapping.
