Simon Johnston: Meridian

ISBN-13: 9783869307817 / Angielski / Twarda / 2020 / 40 str.

Simon Johnston

Opis

The Meridian project is a series of large-format black-and-white photographs taken in England on the line of zero degrees longitude. Using GPS technology to establish accurate locations, Simon Johnston took photographs on this line from coast to coast, with the camera facing either due north or due south. A vertical fluorescent orange line was then superimposed in the center of the photographs to represent the line of zero degrees longitude. The addition of the line transgresses the conventional purity of the photographic picture plane and makes visible that which is invisible/theoretical/conceptual, this graphic intervention mirroring the way we superimpose a rational grid over the globe, mapping and regulating space and time to better coordinate and facilitate international trade and navigation. In this way, Simon Johnston: Meridian offers both a beautiful cross-section portrait of a country and a reminder of the arbitrary nature of time, of human-constructed temporality.

O autorze

Simon Johnston is an English photographer, artist and designer based in Los Angeles. Educated at Bath Academy of Art in England and the Kunstgewerbeschule in Basel, Switzerland, in 1984 he co-founded the London design studio 8vo and the typographic journal Octavo. Relocating to California in 1989 he currently divides his time between art, design, and education. His solo shows include Subject Verb Object at the University of California at Davis, and Indefinite Articles at The American Cement Building in Los Angeles. He is a professor and Director of Print at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His last photographic book, the self-published Unsigned, featured empty sign structures.