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Michael Zuhorski - Eyes Make the Horizon, 2015-2018

Artist’s statement:

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is an insular body of land. The largest freshwater system in the world defines its borders and seeps through its interior, isolating the peninsula. In November 2015 I began living near the peninsula’s north shore with the intention of photographing over a period of several years. The act of looking became insular in sympathy with my surroundings. My practice began to articulate the environment’s effect upon my state of mind and my mind’s effect upon the environment.

These interactions were guided by the ubiquitous presence of water. I photographed the effects of water upon the peninsula and the wetlands, rivers, and lakes that cut through and enclosed it. I became fixated upon the idea of water as a body – dynamic and distinct from its surroundings yet completely tied into them. This is analogous to the way I understand myself in relation to my surroundings. Eyes Make the Horizon became a means to ask where I end and the world begins.