Drawings, 2006–2010 Megan Vossler (bio) In these drawings, the effects of catastrophe are evoked as part of an ongoing cycle of occupation, displacement, and collapse. In graphite drawings on large expanses of white paper, lines of people, animals, and objects navigate endlessly through a suffocating void, emerging from and disappearing back into the blankness of an ever-changing frontier. The landscapes that these populations occupy are frozen and denuded, crumbling under the weight of human abuses. In drawings such as When daylight moves, we rely on distance and All of our moments are stolen, I worked to elicit a sympathetic relationship between the restless, transient groups of people and the charred forest through which they move. In Stampede, electrical poles take the place of humans, rushing toward the viewer as though fleeing an oncoming flood. In these works, neither the land nor the people escape unscathed, although what exactly they have escaped from remains unknown. Scarred and changed, they ultimately reassess, regroup, and move on. [End Page 120] Click for larger view View full resolution Aftermath, 2006 graphite on paper 60 × 72 inches [End Page 2] Click for larger view View full resolution Erosion (detail), 2010 graphite on paper 54 × 69 inches [End Page 15] Click for larger view View full resolution All of our moments are stolen, 2008 graphite on paper 60 × 72 inches [End Page 27] Click for larger view View full resolution All of our moments are stolen (detail), 2008 graphite on paper 60 × 72 inches [End Page 36] Click for larger view View full resolution Perched (detail), 2010 graphite on paper 54 × 69 inches [End Page 45] Click for larger view View full resolution Reconnaissance: March 26, 2006 (On the Move), 2007 graphite on mat board 32 × 40 inches [End Page 58] Click for larger view View full resolution Reconnaissance: June 6, 2005 (Bomb Attack), 2007 graphite on mat board 32 × 40 inches [End Page 74] Click for larger view View full resolution Rubble, 2006 graphite on paper 60 × 108 inches [End Page 85] Click for larger view View full resolution Scavenging (detail), 2010 graphite on paper 54 × 69 inches [End Page 94] Click for larger view View full resolution Surveil (detail), 2010 graphite on paper 54 × 69 inches [End Page 98] Click for larger view View full resolution When daylight moves we rely on distance (detail), 2008 graphite on paper 60 × 72 inches [End Page 106] Megan Vossler Megan Vossler’s drawings are exhibited nationwide, with recent shows at Franklin Art Works (Minneapolis), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the de Young Museum (San Francisco), and the Wooster Art Museum in Ohio. She has been a recipient of several prestigious awards, including a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Visual Artists and a Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists. Her work was most recently featured in the inaugural issue of Vertebrae, a journal of literature and art. She teaches drawing at Macalester College. www.meganvossler.com Copyright © 2012 The Johns Hopkins University Press