The “Fortieth Parallel” is a photographic examination of precise yet arbitrary places found along this parallel across the American landscape.
July 30, 2013 7:25 AM Subscribe
The “Fortieth Parallel” is a photographic examination of precise yet arbitrary places found along this parallel across the American landscape.
This series unites my interest in mapping with conceptually-based art practices and references several “histories”—my father’s history as a surveyor, my interests in maps and systems, the history of the mapping of the U.S. and photography’s role within it, and the history of GPS and locative technologies. Begun in 1998, before GPS selective availability was lifted, this project was completed in 2012. By documenting the seemingly random terrain found at these intersections, I invite the viewer to consider the history of landscape, land use, and the built environment as well as their own relationship to place.
As the baseline for surveying the Kansas and Nebraska territory, the 40th parallel defined the settlement of a large part of the western United States and a portion of it was surveyed in the 1860s by Clarence King with photographer Timothy O’Sullivan. Using contemporary GPS technology together with an 8x10 camera, I have been photographing this line of latitude across the U.S. at every whole of degree of longitude. There are 50 of these confluences on land and the parallel roughly bisects the county, running from the New Jersey shoreline to Northern California. At each intersection, there is approximately a 20-square foot area in which I can compose a view. The format unites the project’s form and content, aesthetically and philosophically, and emulates a person’s entire field of vision. Not wanting to re-make O’Sullivan’s pictures or simply record topography, I see the project instead as a personal survey and one that engages the nature of how humans circumscribe and conceive the world.
This series unites my interest in mapping with conceptually-based art practices and references several “histories”—my father’s history as a surveyor, my interests in maps and systems, the history of the mapping of the U.S. and photography’s role within it, and the history of GPS and locative technologies. Begun in 1998, before GPS selective availability was lifted, this project was completed in 2012. By documenting the seemingly random terrain found at these intersections, I invite the viewer to consider the history of landscape, land use, and the built environment as well as their own relationship to place.
As the baseline for surveying the Kansas and Nebraska territory, the 40th parallel defined the settlement of a large part of the western United States and a portion of it was surveyed in the 1860s by Clarence King with photographer Timothy O’Sullivan. Using contemporary GPS technology together with an 8x10 camera, I have been photographing this line of latitude across the U.S. at every whole of degree of longitude. There are 50 of these confluences on land and the parallel roughly bisects the county, running from the New Jersey shoreline to Northern California. At each intersection, there is approximately a 20-square foot area in which I can compose a view. The format unites the project’s form and content, aesthetically and philosophically, and emulates a person’s entire field of vision. Not wanting to re-make O’Sullivan’s pictures or simply record topography, I see the project instead as a personal survey and one that engages the nature of how humans circumscribe and conceive the world.
Role: Artist/Photographer
So glad you enjoy the work. If you are local, I will be showing at Gallery Kayafas this fall, Sept 6 - Oct 20. Opening reception Sept 6, 5-8pm.
posted by bmyren at 8:01 PM on July 30, 2013
posted by bmyren at 8:01 PM on July 30, 2013
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