Mental maps
Abstract art series
2016
Mental Maps is the foundational theme of all works produced in 2016.
This early psychogeographic mapping series by Philippe Halaburda explores how perception, memory, and spatial awareness are constructed internally before being understood externally.
The works translate lived experience and cognitive navigation into abstract compositions that function as visual representations of mental space.
+ Mental maps: 2016 series overview
• Studio: Brooklyn, NY
and Aix-en-Provence, France
In Mental Maps, space is understood as a psychological construct rather than a fixed geography. The works investigate how individuals organize, remember, and interpret their surroundings through internal reference systems. Rather than depicting physical locations, the series visualizes orientation, displacement, and perceptual adjustment through abstract form, structure, and rhythm.
• 31 series: canvas, paper,
and cardboard
Geographic transition: from France to New York City
Mental Maps was developed during my move from the South of France to New York City, a transition that shaped an early exploration of conscious control, perception, and spatial disorientation. The contrast between the organic landscapes near Aix-en-Provence and the rigid structure of New York’s urban grid became a central tension in the work.
Geometric forms reference the city’s ordered systems, while softer, organic elements echo natural terrain.
Their juxtaposition reflects the interplay between control and chaos, stability and rupture, as mental space is recalibrated through movement and change.
This transition establishes the conceptual foundation for later series, including Destructured Grids (2017), Spatial Representation of Emotions (2019), and Abstract Thinking (2020), where psychological, emotional, and cognitive mapping continue to evolve.
“The move from France to the United States
reshaped my sense of space;
abstraction became a way to navigate a life in transition.”
Concept & theme
This 2016 body of work marks the beginning of Halaburda’s sustained engagement with psychogeography.
Mental Maps establishes abstraction as a method for visualizing cognition itself, how space is felt, remembered, and mentally organized.
These early works lay the groundwork for later explorations of urban grids, emotional mapping, and perceptual systems, positioning mental space as the primary site of inquiry.
Materials & process
All the Mental Maps series were developed using layered acrylic paint, mark-making, and geometric structuring to build depth and spatial complexity.
Through repetition, variation, and overlap, Halaburda constructs surfaces that echo the way mental maps evolve, constantly revised, fragmented, and reassembled through experience.
