The earlier, more analytic ...

The earlier, more analytic impulse was to use very rational but kind of absurd techniques or tendencies—mapping, charting, and architecture—to try and make sense of who I was in my time and space and political environment. But there’s only so much truth to a theoretical understanding of something.
 Julie Mehretu

Quotes from the same author

I'm really interested in the nondefinitive element of abstraction.
 Julie Mehretu
The erasure itself became the action. It seemed to suggest a moment in terms of how sad or pessimistic you can feel in a political environment or a historical situation. But it felt like a really hopeful gesture in the painting.
 Julie Mehretu