Dirt Meridian

In this latest book by the acclaimed photographer of ‘Detroit Disassembled’, Andrew Moore takes to the air to create an intimate vision of the High Plains. The “Meridian” of the title refers to the 100th meridian, the longitude that neatly bisects the country and has long been considered the dividing line between the fertile green East and dry brown West of the United States. Much of the meridian traverses America’s “flyover country”, those remote and sparsely populated landscapes with a long history of repeated drought and failed dreams. Yet other parts of the meridian overlap bustling and contentious zones such as the heavily fracked Bakken formation in North Dakota. ‘Dirt Meridian’ interweaves both these stories together: the enduring myths and rich history of a place where so little meets the eye, alongside a portrayal of those who continue to live amidst its vast and severe magnificence. Many photographs in this book were made using a specially modified camera in a low flying plane; the resulting pictures, with their literal bird eye’s view, offer the viewer a unique perspective of this quintessential “American” landscape of no conspicuous markers or limits. Moore was also assisted by a wideranging group of ranchers, farmers, crop dusters, game wardens, writers, and historians during his ten years of work on this project. The book includes a preface by the late noted author Kent Haruf, a story by the writer Inara Verzemnieks, an essay by noted curator of Western Art, Toby Jurovics, as well as extensive set of endnotes about the images themselves.