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Past Exhibition: Re-Imaging the West: A New History Ken Gonzales-Day · Eirik Johnson · Simon Norfolk · Deb O’Grady · Matt O’Brien · Pipo · David Taylor · Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie · Joo Kyung Yoon May 16 - June 16, 2001 Photo credits: PIPO: AnOther Western dv, 1998, toned gsp. Courtesy of the artist. Past events Simon Norfolk and David Taylor Tuesday, May 22, 7:30 pm Eirik Johnson and Deborah O’Grady Tuesday, May 29, 7:30 pm West Side Story: Narratives of America’s "West" A panel discussion with Rebecca Solnit, Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, Hertha D. Sweet Wong and moderated by Marisa S. Olson Tuesday, June 5, 7:30 pm Photo credit: Simon Norfolk: Long time, no see Travels in Injun Country (detail) , 2000, c-print. Courtesy of the artist. Photo credits: Joo Kyung Yoon: a woman with a Red Flag at Monument Valley, 1996, c-print. Courtesy of the artist. Photo credit: Deborah O’Grady: Before the world ended the people were to destroy all their property so they buried this thing or threw them in the lake, from the series: Talking Lake, 1998, c-print. Courtesy of the artist.       Re-Imaging the West: A New History Ken Gonzales-Day · Eirik Johnson · Simon Norfolk · Deb O’Grady · Matt O’Brien · Pipo · David Taylor · Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie · Joo Kyung Yoon Curated by Alicia Miller SF Camerawork presents Re-Imaging the West: A New History, an exhibition of the work of nine artists who are revisiting the myths and tropes of the American West, reinventing them from a contemporary perspective. The mythology of America’s western frontier has had a rich impact on our cultural identity. Immortalized in varied forms of cultural production–the paintings or photographs of Frederick Remington and Edward Curtis; the novels of Zane Gray; the glut of B-grade Westerns produced by Hollywood which the baby boomer generation grew-up on; or the omni-present Malboro Man-"the West" has continued to occupy a central discursive space in American culture. The mythology of the West is a landscape peopled with stock characters-all white and almost always male-who play out morality tales which speak to the desires of the American dream, and promise that rugged American individualism will conquer all in the face of adversity. It is a mythology of hope and entitlement that in its familiarity and acceptance has hidden its dark underside in the dust of the desert floor. The cost of the Anglo-European conquest of the West was profound, and there is a less majestic tale that is told on the effects of this colonization. Work in the exhibition will bring another perspective on this history to the fore, one which deconstructs and problematizes the characterizations of the American West that form, in many respects, the background of our culture. It will investigate issues of land appropriation and use, the environmental effects of development as well as the histories of the many immigrant populations that made up the Western frontier. The exhibition asks what this new revised history of the American West might look like? Gallery Hours: 12-5 pm, Tuesday-Saturday Gallery Admission is F R E E Gallery Talks are available for classes and community groups. Please call to schedule: 415-863-1001 or e-mail us. related books/cd-roms: Available in our online bookstore Our Journal: CAMERAWORK: A JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS Spring/Summer 2001, Volume 28, No. 1 Re-Imaging the West: A New History   Return to Past Exhibition list   home | about | exhibitions | bookstore | events | membership | journal | mentoring | links Copyright 1999. SF Camerawork. All Rights Reserved.