‘Latitudes of the Longitude’

England has a particular claim to fame with regard to Longitude and the demarcation of time – for Greenwich in London is the ‘zero point’ from where the world’s clocks have been set since 1884. This dividing meridian runs North and South for two hundred miles, English Channel to North Sea.

This is an invisible line, but one that is resonant of the faded British Empire, cartographic conventions, accurate timekeeping, the creation of astronomical charts and modern GPS technologies.

Intrigued by these concepts, I set out to visit the places that this ‘Prime’ meridian runs through – reflecting upon and responding to the countryside, edgelands, conurbations. Absorbing the experience of place along with these histories, I look for clues to a physicality of longitude, visualising this concept of mathematics and geography.

Planning a journey along the path of the longitude is possible but not practical – because it isn’t there. To navigate this line from the ground-level as a pedestrian, you must traverse it in an interrupted, serpentine manner which is reflective of our oscillating modern relationship with kingdom and country.

In these ways, there is latitude to the longitude.