The magazine of the photo-essay
June 2018 issue
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film maker
by Joachim Hildebrand
What better way to approach an American myth than through a road trip? Joachim
Hildebrand traveled through the seven states of the American Southwest, in which
the Wild West is located both geographically and in our imagination. The title of the
project inevitably evokes images full of clichés and stereotypes. Today, where the
wilderness has been displaced by "civilization", Hildebrand discovers entirely
different scenes than those generally associated with the Wild West and the
American frontier. He sets his sight on blurred contours, contradictions, borders, and
transitions: from architecture to nature, from urbanity to landscape.
A reassuring blue sky is sometimes the only element in Hildebrand’s photographs
that stands for the pristine or archetypal environment. “Wild West” is a photographic
discourse on how humans nest, uproot, and build again. From the urban sprawl to
the strip mall, from gated communities to easy freeway access. Hildebrand finds a
visual rhythm in the multitude of man-made patterns and materials amongst the
outdoors.
The archetypes of the American West have become mere platitudes. “Wild West” is a mecca of surreal irony that has more
to do with suburban development than it does with adventures in arid landscape. Here, where triviality meets absurdity,
the myths of the Wild West and “manifest destiny” (the belief that the United States has a God-given right to explore,
conquer, and claim new territories), which are so essential for the self-understanding of the USA, are deconstructed.
"Wild West" can be read as a photo verse that questions remnants of the better days of the American dream from
decades gone by and the continued human claim to nature’s vastness. Instead of the virgin landscape, Hildebrand
displays a paved paradise that is manufactured by “civilization.” It is a global Wild West in the middle of the American West.
Celina Lunsford
(Excerpts from her essay “Paved Paradise” in the book)
Untitled #7223, from the series Wild West
Untitled #6768, from the series Wild West
Untitled #5825, from the series Wild West
Untitled #5904, from the series Wild West
Untitled #9367, from the series Wild West
Untitled #5625, from the series Wild West
Untitled #4907, from the series Wild West
Untitled #2544, from the series Wild West
Untitled #6589, from the series Wild West
Untitled #7158, from the series Wild West
Untitled #5740, from the series Wild West
Untitled #2189, from the series Wild West
Untitled #6364, from the series Wild West
Untitled #2290, from the series Wild West
Untitled #4992, from the series Wild West
