Out West: Upending the White, Straight Mythology of the American Cowboy
Liv Hart
There are few modern symbols of masculinity designed so precisely as the American Cowboy. A manufactured media myth
replete with iconic ad campaigns offer an adoring and uninformed public a frontier history populated by white,
courageous, womanizing male heroes. What do we find by unbuilding this extreme capitalist construct? - a complex
territory, one where black cattle ranchers, Mexican vaqueros, queer-cross dressing cowboys and resilient frontier women
of various creeds and ethnicities forged a life out of an often hostile landscape.
The cowboy as a “product” to be emulated by hyper-masculine men injected a sense of rugged individualism into the
cultural conversation. This made for generations of men aspiring to be something reminiscent of characters they had seen
on the silver screen or in magazines - a type of man that became a sales pitch, a shill, a symbol for those selling
products (think cigarettes and alcohol) through the guise of rugged individualism. At this current moment, marginalized
histories and unheard (or once muted) voices are upending the “old” narratives, reclaiming a rightful place in the
construction of the nation. But the push-back from those who mythologized (and exploited) a white-washed version of this
American story, has become extreme and violent. A systematic dismantling through the banning of books and silencing of
historical records is well underway. Draconian bills and legislation in many southern and western states threaten to
closet the American story once again. By focusing on the American West, and in particular by deconstructing the iconic
cowboy, I hope to offer an unvarnished picture of this complex space for future generations to embrace before these
voices are forever silenced.
“The Great Takedown”
This is a time-lapsed gif of my Proof of Concept Exhibition, titled “The Great Takedown”. I designed a fake, mid-century inspired Western film poster, and glued it atop a collage of some of the queer frontiers folx that I have researched over the past several years. By inviting participants of the exhibition to physically tear back the movie poster layer, they were revealing what became a dynamic subtractive collage - integrating some of the voices of queer people who populated our Western frontier.
Thesis Book: Evelyn Cameron
This spread highlights the hidden life of a fierce frontier photographer, Evelyn Cameron. Through reading her personal life through a series of archived journals, I was inspired by her existence on the plains of Montana, and learned of her possible lesbian relationship with Janet Williams, who is pictured with Cameron in the left spread.
Out West: Thesis Book Gif
A flip-through of some of my favorite pages from my thesis book.
Inset Journal in Thesis Book
Referring back to the story of Evelyn Cameron, I incorporated a miniature version of several of her journal entries - highlighting the amount of times she refers to her “friend” Janet.
Oh, Anderson
Oh, Anderson is an album I designed to house a QR code to a song I wrote and performed at the autumn exhibition. The song tackles modern divisive issues our nation faces - masculinity, the cowboy icon, religion, politics, queerness, and erasure to name a few.
So Long, Partner
Conclusion spread from my thesis book, Out West: Upending the White, Straight Mythology of the American Cowboy
Charlie & H.P.
After stumbling across an old postcard from a 1918 Arizona summer - the message sent from one of the men pictured (H.P.) to the other (Charlie) gave an overpowering sense of longing, perhaps queer longing. I riso-printed the figures, and the letter too, overprinting it to create a type of queer code between these men - unreadable by the average eye and therefore becoming a sacred imaginary.