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.
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.
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.
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.
Today 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.
Today 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.
Animas Forks, Colorado, 2012. Animas Forks is a former mining town founded in 1875. It has been slowly abandoned from the first decade of the 20th century. Today is one of the several ghost towns left in the state of Colorado
Guffey, Colorado. Charles Morielli is the guardian of this curious exhibition of sundries in Guffey, a little town entirely devoted to antiques. The items are often not on sale and they belong to the american western tradition
Durango, Colorado, 2012. Every year in October the city of Durango hosts the biggest cowboy gathering of Colorado. Concerts, horse ridings and other events are held to celebrate and keep alive the western spirit
Golden, Colorado, 2012. Kim Fry is a member of the Colorado Gay Rodeo Association. CGRA was founded in 1981 and it is the oldest association of the United States that promotes rodeo events in the gay community
Center, Colorado, 2012. Frontier Drive-In Theater
Salida, Colorado, 2012. A skatepark at the foot of the hills surrounding the city of Salida. In the background, the big capital letter on the side of the mountain (in this case an “S” standing for Salida) is a frequent element in the landscape of the West
Mayday, Colorado, 2012
Victor, Colorado, 2012. Sue Kochevar and Micheal Nothaus, a former miner and son of German immigrants, work together in the Fortune Club Diner (one of the only two diners now open in Victor). Everyday the Fortune Club serves breakfast and lunch to the workers of the Victor gold mine
Summit County, Colorado, 2012
Fairplay, Colorado, 2012. South Park City
Paonia, Colorado, 2012
Villa Grove, Colorado, 2012. Amber in her general store
Sunset on Delta County, Colorado.
Durango, Colorado, 2012. During a country concert
Jefferson, Colorado, 2012
Westcliffe, Colorado, 2012. Westcliffe lies in the valley next to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains
Keota, Colorado, 2012. Keota was a station stop on the Colorado-Wyoming Division of the Burlington Missouri Railroad. After the severe dust storms and the Great Depression of the Thirties, it began the depopulation of the town. In 1975 the station was abandoned and the trackage completely removed. Today Keota is almost totally uninhabited
Grand Junction, Colorado, 2012. Spectators of an air show in Grand Junction, the most populous city of western Colorado
Silverplume, Colorado, 2012
Victor, Colorado, 2012. Preparing for Halloween
Red Cliff, Colorado, 2012. Established in 1879 by silver miners, Red Cliff has today a population of less than 300 people
Silverton, Colorado. Frank Montonati shows an old photograph of his ancestors, moved from northern Italy to Colorado in 1870. Frank is a mining engineer and since 1966 he has worked in mining camps all over the world. Today he coordinates the operations in his own gold mine in Silverton together with his son
Goldfield, Colorado, 2012. Goldfield was built at the end of the 19th century to give shelter to the hundreds of miners working in the area. Nowadays Goldfield is nearly a ghost town. Behind the few wooden cabins left, the Cripple Creek & Victor gold mine is still active. It is property of the south African company AngloGold Ashanti and it is the most productive gold mine of Colorado
Ouray, Colorado, 2012. Ouray is a former mining town built in the second half of the 19th century. The entire present-day economy of Ouray is based on tourism and the town bills itself as the “Switzerland of America” because of its geographic position
San Luis, Colorado, 2012
Keota, Colorado, 2012. Chris and Nathan, students at the University of Boulder, in the ghost town of Keota during the set-up for a photographic project about the declining power of the United States of America
Montrose, Colorado, 2012. Graffiti portraying the final scene of the 1969 western movie True Grit. The film was entirely shot in Ouray and Montrose Counties. John Wayne won the only Academy Award of his long career for the role of Rooster Cogburn in this picture
Silverton, Colorado, 2012. A view of Silverton, a former silver-mining town
Hooper, Colorado, 2012. San Luis Valley is considered among specialists one of the most profitable places in the United States for UFO sightings. Judy Messoline is the owner of the UFO Watchtower in Hooper, Colorado. After closing her cattle ranch because of the dry weather conditions, in 2000 she began this activity on the same property. Since that moment the center reported 66 UFO sightings and more than 20,000 among tourists and campers every year
Nederland, Colorado, 2012. Bo, the Iceman, and Lexi after their monthly transport of dry ice. Since 1994 Bo is the caretaker of the frozen corpse of Bredo Morstel, a Norwegian man got hibernated after death by his son and kept by that time in a bizarre cryogenic center in Nederland. In order to keep the temperature inside the coffin low enough to maintain the corpse, Bo must carry once a month more than 1,500 pounds of dry ice with his pick-up truck from Boulder to Nederland
Central City, Colorado, 2012. Central City, “the richest square mile on Earth” is one of the most famous cities linked to the gold rush of the 19th century. As the mineral extraction became less profitable, Central City started its conversion from mining to gambling town and it now hosts several casinos
Golden, Colorado, 2012. During a gay rodeo
Victor, Colorado, 2012
Pagosa Springs, Colorado, 2012. The San Juan Shootists meet once a month to hold their Fast Draw championship in Pagosa Springs. During this tournament, based on the romance and legend of the Old West, every shooter must prove his ability in striking a target in less than no time with a real Colt gun
Guffey, Colorado, 2012. Horse skeletons pulling a paddy-wagon
St. Elmo, Colorado, 2012.A ghost town on the Rocky Mountains
Empire, Colorado, 2012. Pioneer cemetery
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 2012. In 2012 more than 4000 wildfires burned across the state of Colorado. They caused the death of six people and destroyed 370,000 acres of forest with an estimated loss of 538 million dollars, according to the reports by the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control
Genoa, Colorado, 2012. Jerry Chubbuck, a retired sheriff, is the caretaker of the Wonder Tower in Genoa. In the building have been stored thousands of oddities and other bizarre items found by Jerry himself during 60 years of quests in the West. Before the abandonment of the town, the Wonder Tower used to host a restaurant, now partially converted into Jerry's house
