The Public Land Survey System, also known as the Jefferson Grid, was the system used by surveyors in the late 18th century to divide the middle and western regions of the United States into neat squares, each exactly one mile by one mile. However, due to the earth’s curvature, the lines tapered towards the north. This required the grid to be corrected: grid corrections were made every 20 miles to reconcile theory and practice.
During a residency in Wichita, Kansas in 2016, aerial photographer Gerco de Ruijter drove along these straight roads and encountered them: small kinks and T-junctions amidst an otherwise perfectly geometrical network of roads. The variations in the grid create a diverse and dynamic series of images that both alienate and captivate the viewer. With the help of Google Earth, De Ruijter combed through thousands of these corrections, documenting them in different seasons and landscapes, from snow-covered cities to dried-out deserts.
www.ftn-books.com has teh de Ruijter invitation for his Fotomuseum exhibition now available.
