Artist Statement
In my seventh grade geography class, Mr. Irving taught us how to fold a road map, and make a polyhedron globe of the world out of paper. But I’m still terrible at geography and have no sense of direction. So it took me by surprise when I read the sign at the edge of Mission Bay in Traverse City: “YOU ARE NOW STANDING ON THE 45TH PARALLEL OR HALFWAY BETWEEN THE NORTH POLE AND THE EQUATOR”. And it made me incredibly happy, as if I was the one who first discovered the place, which I hadn’t; and it was someplace important, which it wasn’t. But at that moment it seemed significant. In front of the sign, for a split second, I crossed the North Pole and the Equator and returned to the edge of Mission Bay. I knew where I stood on the globe.
There are sixty-three recorded places, as well as long stretches of open land and water, that fall on the more than 17,000 miles of the 45th Parallel North as it wraps around the world. This work is about a specific place and any place. It’s about midpoints, landmarks, road trips, road maps, and long stretches that take us somewhere and elsewhere.
There are sixty-three recorded places, as well as long stretches of open land and water, that fall on the more than 17,000 miles of the 45th Parallel North as it wraps around the world. This work is about a specific place and any place. It’s about midpoints, landmarks, road trips, road maps, and long stretches that take us somewhere and elsewhere.
