I’ve lost track of how many TED talks I’ve watched over the last few years. I no longer manage to watch every single one like I did when I first started, not least because of the increased volume of output, but every now and then I find one that catches my imagination. R Luke DuBois, talking about creating portraits with data was one of those:

I suppose you could call him a conceptual artist but I think he manages to reach deeper than many who claim that name by being a lot more grounded. His work is all about holding up data as a mirror to the human condition. For example, the map above shows a town in the US with locations picked out by the word people from that area use more than anyone else. There is a certain humour in spotting that you go through Digging to Deception and onto Relocation but now I’m fascinated to know where those places actually are and why those are the words their residents often use.