FURTHER WEST
"They will gaze up and strain to find the blue dot in their skies. They will love it no less for its obscurity and fragility. They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of all our potential once was, how perilous our infancy, how humble our beginnings, how many rivers we had to cross before we found our way.” -Carl Sagan
Reframing the idea of imperialism in American history, Further West explores a revisionist's vision of manifest destiny. Refugees and pioneers on the brink of the unknown step onto foreign soil, engulfed by the sprawl of the landscape before them they begin to shape the world. The known and unknown collide, as natural and constructed spaces become augmented, and mid-century Americana culture adapts, shifts, and changes it's trajectory toward a new and uncertain future.
Using model making, portraiture, and landscape photography, these images become a collage of real and imagined possibilities, posing questions about who we are and how we coexist in this world. Series created for a solo show at Stephanie Chefas Gallery July 7th - 29th, 2017 in Portland, OR.
Follow the action @neonwerewolf !
