Zero Line Boundary

23 x 26 mm or 9 x 10.2 inches
48 B+W Photographs
96 Pages + Dust Jacket
Smyth-Sewn Softcover
Zatara Press
2022
Trade Edition: 300

Zero Line Boundary is a mediation and discourse on the 49th parallel – the International Border between the United States of America and Canada, the longest continuous border in the world between two countries. It is a liminal space that is rarely addressed when one thinks of the United States’ borders. Over a multi-year period Robert Lyons traveled to areas in Vermont, New York, Washington, Quebec and British Columbia to investigate the people and the surrounding lands.

The short story “Many Metaphors Ferried Across the Border” by Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma accompanies the photographs in an allegorical approach. The story and photographs together invite the reader to consider and ponder ideas of identity, nation state, and what it means to call a location (country) home.

Robert Lyons lives and works in Portland, Oregon. He has taught extensively in the USA and Europe at various institutions including: Emily Carr College of Art & Design, University of Washington, Photographic Center Northwest, International Center of Photography, and the Ostkreuzschule in Berlin. Lyons received his BA in Photography form Hampshire College (Amherst, MA) and his MFA from Yale University. His work has been shown internationally for over 40 years, including exhibitions at the De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park (Lincoln, MA), Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, (Kansas City, MO), Henry Art Gallery (Seattle, WA), and the Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA). Among the permanent collections in which he is included are the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR), Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA), and Henry Art Gallery (Seattle, WA). His published books include: Egyptian Time, Doubleday – 1992, Another Africa, Bantam Dell Doubleday – 1998, The Company of Another, Galerie Michael Schultz Berlin – 2003, Intimate Enemy: Voices and Images from the Rwandan Genocide, Zone Books –2006, One Eye Crying, Roman Nvmerals – 2016-18, Pictures From the Next Day, Zatara Press – 2017, Rubber Soul, Roman Nvmerals – 2021, A Whisper that Falls Shy of a Voice, Roman Nvmerals – 2021. He is the Founder and Director of The Hartford Art School International Limited Residency MFA Program at the University of Hartford.