Spawn of Gerrymander: Oliver Munday’s Florida 5th

Oliver Munday suggests “Up In Smoke” as a title for his visualization of Florida’s Fifth Congressional District.

“I can’t help imagine the ‘back room’ trope: hands shaking, money and deals being exchanged, and finally citizens being hoodwinked,” he says. “The cigar serves as an emblem, evoking the money, power, and the corruption in our modern political climate; the district smoke being the last vestige of a deal completed.”

This is an appropriate line of thought—Florida’s districting process has been shaped by both legal wrangling and, ultimately, dealmaking (the latter decribed well, in relation to the 5th district specifically, in this Slate column by David Weigel). 

Oliver Munday is a graphic designer living and working in New York City. Follow him on Tumblr, here.

Spawn of Gerrymander is a series in which some of our favorite illustrators use their talents to help us see the true shape of poltical mapmaking in the twenty-first century: introductory essay here; browse the whole series here. This project has been made possible in large part by a grant from The Awesome Foundation‘s Awesome Without Borders chapter.