Long after the American West was “settled” by Europeans, the myths of “frontier times” persist in the minds of Americans and foreigners alike. For many, western landscapes are the defining image of this country.

Of course, the real history of the west is one also of violence and destruction, a place where the native peoples were slaughtered and displaced, the atomic bomb was created, and nuclear waste was dumped. Still, the landscape itself has an almost mystical quality and it was this, along with its history, that attracted me.

Westerns is a new ongoing project, conceived as both survey and a metaphor. The work will unfold as a slow progression through time from the views of sublime topography to traces of early civilizations, emigration and settlement, nuclear legacies and ending with views of the border wall.

Ultimately, Westerns reflects on the shifting perception of place: how we are drawn first to beauty, and only later come to see the shadows it conceals. In this way, the project will mirror my own journey as an immigrant – arriving in this country captivated by its immensity and promise, and gradually, inevitably, encountering its contradictions.