36° 30′
The project takes its name from the latitudinal circle that divides the globe into north and south, the same circle that was used to draw the U.S. Mason-Dixon Line. This historically important demarcation remains critical to global trade today, as a home to global economic centers and as a mediator of labor markets and migration. The composition is constructed from visual references to global trade and labor. An initial interest in the African American Burial Ground in lower Manhattan lead to research on the quilt patterns used for communication in the Underground Railroad, a system of iconic visual communication that was integrated into trade routes. Its pattern, inspired by quilt design, is populated by a hybrid iconography drawn from states' flags and emblems as well as the logos of companies with a relationship to the 36º 30’ parallel, cumulatively weaving together a history of global trade.
This work is a result of research undertaken in a 2011 Art & Law Residency. The patterns, originally manifest as banners painted on wool military blankets, were reformed to create an exterior mural for Brookfield Properties in the summer of 2012.