Simon Johnston: Meridian

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 Meridian offers both a beautiful cross-section portrait of a country and a reminder of the arbitrary nature of time, of human-constructed temporality.