Secret Maps

What do an Enigma machine, an Apple AirTag and Lady Mountbatten’s silk underwear all have in common? Well, they’re all currently on display at the British Library’s riveting Secret Maps exhibition. Why are they all together? Because they all tell stories about how information is created, concealed, disseminated and controlled, via mapping. And that’s exactly what Secret Maps is all about. 

Through more than 100 items, from hand-drawn naval charts gifted to Henry VIII, to Soviet Cold War-era cartographies, and modern-day satellite tracking technology (TL;DR: a whole lotta maps), the British Library illuminates how maps can be powerful political tools, create communities, and act as a form of protest. 

It’s a dense, information-packed display with plenty of granular detail to get stuck into, so if you’re not, like, really into maps, then it may not be for you. But it’s sort of what you’d expect for an exhibition dedicated to maps hosted by the British Library. There are a few fun and interactive elements, too; visitors are invited to peer through secret spy holes, place their phones on a futuristic screen that tells them exactly how the tech overlords are mapping and harvesting their data (gulp), and find Wally in an original drawing from the children’s book. 

For £20 you are guaranteed to see a lot of cool old shit

The most compelling aspect of the exhibition is its anti-colonialist streak (other London museums could do with taking a leaf out of the British Library’s book). Some of the most moving items on display tell stories of imperialism and apartheid: South African maps that omit Black townships; top secret documents drawn up during the partition of India; charts showing Native American land before and after it became the United States as we know it today; and a semiotic diagram shared by Syrian refugees over WhatsApp outlining a safe route from Turkey to Germany and how much it costs. 

Other gems include a quilt created to the scale of a British prison cell, escape maps for British prisoners of war hidden inside hairbrushes and toy games, and a 1937 chart of public toilets in central London used by gay men. There’s a wonderful section dedicated to pirate’s treasure maps, including a letter in which swashbuckling legend William Kidd begged for his life in exchange for revealing where the booty was hidden (spoiler: he was executed anyway, but it was a good last-ditch attempt). 

There is a head-spinning amount of stuff to unpack in this exhibition, and for £20 you are guaranteed to see a lot of cool old shit. You will learn about everything from ancient civilisations, to Amazon conservation, to Taylor Swift’s private jets. Come with your thinking cap on, try not to get lost in the landslide of information, and you’ll leave with a new-found appreciation for the power of maps.