Phantom Islands by Roelant Meijer

Publisher: Foundation NDSM-werf, Amsterdam, 2023

Format: Folder containing 9 offset-printed postcards with accompanying text and stamp, 15.5 × 11 cm

Edition: First edition

ISBN: 978-90-817221-4-8

Phantom Islands is an artist's publication by Roelant Meijer exploring the history of islands that appeared on maps for centuries despite never having existed. Presented as a folder containing nine postcard-like editions, each island is reimagined through contemporary photographs accompanied by fictional holiday greetings, historical notes, and commemorative stamps. By adopting the familiar visual language of tourist souvenirs, Meijer examines the fragile relationship between cartography, collective belief, and visual evidence, revealing how myths can become embedded within official histories. Oscillating between documentary research and conceptual fiction, Phantom Islands reflects the artist's ongoing interest in photography as a medium capable of questioning the reliability of representation and the construction of geographic memory.