Dan Mills’ maps of Antarctica do not give us sublime perspectives. Instead, they make visible the claims crowding the continent, rendered in the bold primary colors of national flags. They present us with a kind of constructivist estrangement: contemporary images of ice and calving glaciers have become familiar and problematically apolitical. Magallanica as pie chart represents the countries who claim standing of some sort in Antarctica, whether as initial or subsequent signatories to the Treaty, “parties with consulting status,” or UN observers. Pretty much everyone, it turns out.
—Jane Costlow, “Everyone Wants a Piece of It" essay, Dan Mills, Human Topographies Exhibition Guide, 2019-20
