There is no Space, There is No Time, There are Only Objects: The Onto-Cartography of Richard McGuire’s Here (2014)

Some object-oriented philosophers conceive of time and space as if they were emerging from objects. In this paper, we suggest that the graphic novel Here (2014) by Richard McGuire gives visual form to these conceptions. The graphic novel tells the story of a place – namely, one corner of a living room – moving backwards and forwards in time using the superimposition of various panels on each page. Through these ‘time windows’ the narration exceeds the limits of human life and embraces manifold spatio-temporal virtualities within a single page. If objects themselves are maps involved in the processes of spacing and timing, creating connections like resonating echoes, Here functions as an onto-cartography that proposes objects as archaeological sites. Telling coexisting stories of ancient pasts and possible futures, McGuire’s graphic novel creatively attunes us to the worlds of objects, providing an aesthetic mapping of the lives of objects.