Interactive

Lesya's Routes for "Local History"

An interactive storymap charting Lesya Ukrainka's life across more than twenty cities beyond Ukraine, built for the Local History platform on a custom Mapbox Studio style. Based on the "150 Names of Lesya" brand identity, the map layers historical boundaries of the world circa 1900 over modern geography to follow the writer's routes without losing sight of Ukraine.

An interactive storymap tracing the geography of Lesya Ukrainka’s life beyond the borders of Ukraine. Built for Local History, a multimedia online platform on the past and present of Ukraine, the project maps more than twenty cities across the world where turning points in the writer’s biography took place — the routes compiled by literary critic Vira Aheieva.

The map counters a familiar framing: that Larysa Kosach’s life was confined by illness and by geography. It follows her far beyond Ukraine while showing that the connection to Ukraine was never lost.

Cartography and design rest on a custom Mapbox Studio style built on the official brand kit of the “150 Names of Lesya” identity from the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. The style carries prepared layers — the historical boundaries of a portion of the world circa 1900, points of interest, water routes, and modern city planning — with map control tools added in the final edition. The project was assembled on Mapbox GL, HTML5, and CSS3. Published by Local History, February 2021. Available in Ukrainian. Best viewed in its online interactive form.

Idea and coordination: Alina Broda, Inna Bereznitska, Vitaliy Lyaska · Text: Vira Aheieva · Editing: Volodymyr Semkiv · Literary editing: Anna-Maria Volosatska · Cartography and design: Fedir Gontsa · © Local History, February 2021

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