Near The Point of Beginning is an investigation of an historical, cartographic site along the Ohio River. The location known as “The Point of Beginning of the Seven Ranges,” established in the late 18th century through the Land Ordinance of 1785 under the guidance of Thomas Jefferson, is located in East Liverpool, Ohio on the northern bank of the Ohio River. It was from this site in which nearly all the land west of the original thirteen colonies was organized and compartmentalized into a grid suitable for sale to land prospectors and would-be homesteaders. Thomas Hutchins, first geographer of the United States, began the survey from this location in the late summer of 1785. A granite monument on the southern shoulder of Highway 39/68 on the Ohio/Pennsylvania border serves as a reference point for the actual location of The Point of Beginning. The historical site was never permanently marked and is located somewhere along the riverbank, 1112 feet south of the monument, within an industrial materials storage facility owned by the SH Bell Company.

In the spring of 2008 I located the lost site, or as near to it as possible, with the assistance of Dr. Bradley Shellito, a geographer and GIS specialist based in Youngstown, Ohio. After our re-discovery of the site I created objects and situations to temporarily mark the lost site with the cooperation of the SH Bell Company. Together these sites act as an essential point of reference, a sort of personal datum, from which I gauge how people, including myself, think about the natural world and interact with the landscape. I have interpreted that this location established a clear and distinct separation between people and the land. I find evidence of this separation through various objects, images, places, and situations in contemporary culture and historical accounts.

Materials: digital chromogenic prints, gelatin silver prints, drawings, text, sound, video, performance and installation. Print sizes range between 10"x10", 11"x15", 15"x15", and 16"x20" depending on the image.