RENE WEST
Photographer and educator Rene West used the Mystery Ranch as a base to explore the desert and urban landscapes of Southern Nevada for her long term project, City Walls. She also led the Mystery Ranch’s first Pinhole Camera Day workshop in 2019.
Rene west
In June 2019, photographer and visual artist Rene West used the Mystery Ranch as a base to explore the desert and urban landscapes of Southern Nevada, expanding her long term project, City Walls, a decade-long photo documentary project exploring contemporary culture through the urban landscape. She also created two new bodies of work during her two-week stay.
In one new series, West captured the desert landscape using wide format pinhole photographs developed as Van Dyke prints. In the other, she created digital photo-collages on desert themes as a daily meditation. She combined these two bodies of work into the exhibition Mojave—Ancient Lands and Animal Stories, displayed at Amarillo College’s Southern Light Gallery in Jan-Feb 2020.
While in residence, West also set up a darkroom and led our first Pinhole Camera Day workshop.
Image: Rene West, Surrender
part of the series City Walls.
Rene West, Reaching Down. Van Dyke print from homemade pinhole camera, 2019.
Mandala Diaries
In the heat of the day, West drew meditative mandalas. Based on abstract geometric designs, her mandalas grew to include desert plant and animal motifs representing her experiences and stories of the Mojave. Upon her return, she converted the analog drawings into photo-collages using digital photographs from her excursions.
Image: Rene West, Greeting,
digital photo-collage, 2019