Centroid Towns is an anthology documentary project using photography, oral history interviews, and local archive research to study the twenty-five cities that have been the mean center of population of the United States. This symbolic center is calculated every ten years to accompany the U.S. Census, first located in 1790 near Chestertown, Maryland, and moving steadily westward, currently residing near Hartville, Missouri. The project puts a face to statistical data, chronicling these towns and their inhabitants to illuminate the ongoing social and political transformation of America.
Centroid Towns is a project by Baltimore-based photographer Nate Larson. The most recent chapter, Like a Passing Shadow, was recently exhibited at Tephra ICA in Virginia and Salisbury University Art Galleries in Maryland. Installation views are available here.
Installation at Salisbury University Art Galleries, Spring 2021