Standing Still

For a long time the Far West has been the destination of adventurers, loners and pioneers moved either by vocation or by need. For these people the unexplored territories beyond the frontier represented a real step forward towards freedom and, possibly, glory. This unusual embrace between civilization and a wild, magnificent, but sometimes also inhospitable and violent, nature originated the American man. At the end of a dynamic and impetuous historical phase, the Far West played a key role not only in the geographical definition of the U.S., but also in the creation of an epic (as well as a political doctrine of expansion) that became the cultural cornerstone for the growing country. It is no coincidence that the Western epic experienced its greatest glory in the twentieth century when the U.S.A. emerged as the dominant world power. Today a radically new geopolitical balance leads us to reconsider the country’s leading role in international economy and therefore, culture. Now that the “American era” is coming to an end, we felt it was important to make this journey. A trip that allowed us to observe the condition of American Western symbols in the territory in which they were born. Immobility and stillness distinguish the condition of the contemporary West. Although some environmental and cultural changes have impacted the region, they have been unable to free this land from its famous iconography and the history it stands for. A myth that affects an environment so deeply can only become its constant aspect, doomed continually to repeat itself. The images you will find here have been taken entirely in Colorado. We consider this work to be just the first leg of a wider study about the West and its inhabitants, which will certainly involve our future research and commitment.