Once Upon a Time in the West

whitley bay film festival 2018

The Once Upon A Time In The West exhibition is part of an on going practice-based visual arts project that explores the disparity between fictionalised depictions of the home space in Western films and the realities faced by early US settlers in relation to climate, geography, elevation, materials, design and construction methods.

Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West (1968) was first released over 50 years ago. This film is said to represent the emergence of a liberal counter-culture within the Western genre, a turning point as the past makes way for modernity. I have used the title of this film to represent a shift within my own photographic work from pure documentary to a more open cross-disciplinary exploration through which to develop a body of visual work.

The Once upon a Time in the West exhibition was part of the Whitley Bay film festival (2018) in which I delivered the opening introductory address to John Fords film The Searchers (1956)

Once Upon a Time in the West Poster

This poster was produced for the exhibition 'Once upon a time in the West'

It contains a background image taken from Bodie Museum site, with the type font Playbill used to give a traditional woodblock Western feel. This posters background also matches that used within the exhibition Poster for Ghost-Host joining the two very different exhibitions together as a progression through the mediation of exhibition design.