I started this project after a road trip through the western United States. While speeding down well marked highways, I imagined what it must have been like to arrive here in a covered wagon, across arid and remote terrain and the surprise and dismay of Native Americans who had to contend with settlers who wanted to transform and occupy land for which they were custodians for centuries.

"How the West was won" has many interpretations and it is often the winner who writes history. The story of westward expansion has many ugly truths oerlooked or hidden by the artwork and writings of the time. Artist and cultural biases, the prejudices of the day and the desire to please editors encouraged distortions and a blind eye to the cultural dominance, land grab, loss and displacement within the frontier experience. The ensuing cult of the rugged cowboy, beliefs of "Indian" savagery, the bravery of the US Calvary, the fortitude and innocence of Christian settlers and the belief that the "ends justify the means" continue to have deep roots in the American pysche.

This project is an attempt to expose some of the myths, omissions and truths of "How the West was won" by creating narratives using original artwork of the time and western landscapes I have photographed. It is an opportunity to dialogue and question the history of an idealized West, American myth and their impact on the national consciousness.

The images are printed on archival Kitakata paper producing an effect that is reminiscent of the photochrom printing process of the era.