Ulrich Eigner
back
West Texas Photographs
West Texas Photographs / Studies in Americana #2
This body of work represents both of our experiences and interpretations of the people and the landscapes that we encountered while in West Texas. The interest in this particular geographic region is wide-ranging and complex, as it is certainly compounded by our respective backgrounds. One of us grew up in the area and knows it well, while for the other it is a completely foreign experience. But for both of us there is an absolute curiosity about the people and the landscapes that exist in this wild and rugged land.
Everything in West Texas is on the fringe, a true borderland where the world revolves on a completely different axis. At times referred to as the “Texas Desert”, the “Devil’s Playground”, and the “Brush Country”, the geography is unique, eccentric, and hardened just as are the people that inhabit this land. As the common saying goes, “As soon as God completed Earth’s creation, he threw together all the leftover pieces and cretaed West Texas”.
It is one of the least populated and least dense areas in the country, with most counties having only 10 or fewer people per square mile. We often drove for hours without seeing a person. Those who live in the region can be generally characterized by their distinct ability to survive, their deep multicultural roots, and their open and independent personalities. In this land cattle and oil are king and the life and death of towns still largely depends on the train and the weather.
During our journey throughout the region, we traveled roughly 700 miles, scantly covering thirteen counties. As we crossed the semi-arid, scrubby lanscape we began to feel the sense of loss and even desperation, as if we were witnessing history pass before us - a different time and a different place that we had a hard time registering in relation to our knowledge of today’s modernized world.
Yet, it was exactely this sense of the past that we found so intriguing and, in some sence, hypnotizing. For in this space of the past, there were no intellectual or theoretical or popular guidelines for living and building, and being. The white plastered wall of the abandoned gas station exists as it does, because of time, the weather, and the lack of human contact - not because of some town plan or historical designation. The weathered red face of Pete Billings exists because he worked outside all of his life, not because he is trying to fit some predefined fashion.
Our photographs of the people and the landscapes of West Texas are, therefore, intended to represent our journey to understand the region, our place within it, and its place within the world today. And it it is through these photographs that we would like to ask the audience to take a small step into our experience of West Texas.
_
JavaScript is turned off.
Please enable JavaScript to view this site properly.