the work of catherine meier

The Distance of Horizon is a hand drawn animation intended as a large-scale video installation depicting six locations from throughout the Great Plains and the Mongolian steppe. These locations are places to which I have traveled to, spent time in, drawn and photographed in the field. They are places that I know in a very tactile sense. In each image, the horizon line has been identically places so that the scenes are both completely interchangeable, or line up when placed side by side.

Standing before the projection, there are a few moments when a viewer may be uncertain. Is anything happening? Is this just a large projection of a graphite drawing? And then gradually, small shifts and movements become noticeable, change happens. The subdued palette of black, white, and gray reinforces the stark difference between the vacant sky, the detailed ground, and the solid line that divides them. The white and empty sky holds its own against the subtle textures and shading of the visibly moving ground. In this animation it is dirt and grass that are the characters of the piece. They are the event, the minutia en masse that balance the immense sky and breathe animate life into the otherwise inanimate image.

The Distance of Horizon holds quietness, and with it I am inviting viewers to make their own discoveries, to sit, consider, and to reflect.

The animation can be viewed on my vimeo page.