Cowboys

2017

Laredo, Kent. This dedicated community of enthusiasts spend their weekends re-enacting the American Old West. The townspeople are governed by strict rules to live authentically to the time period. No running water or electricity; seven stiches to every inch. 

The Laredo Western Club was started with a simple wooden bunk house built on an old pig farm in the 1960s. It seduced a generation of dreamers brought up on John Wayne. But popularity for the Hollywood Western has diminished over the years. The cowboys are old and tired, doing what they can to fight against the rot and rust. Another British winter looms over the horizon on Kent’s last frontier.

Cowboys is a dual screen video installation made for the Royal Academy Schools Show 2017.