Past

Ray Anthony Barrett: Dispatches from the Western Wild

Ray Anthony Barrett, Go Tell It On The Mountain, 2020-21. Production stills. Photography by Ray Anthony Barrett and Rusty Baldwin.

Dispatches from the Western Wild is the first iteration of a series of public programs by Ray Anthony Barrett. Written in the months after having completed an expedition across the American West, these Dispatches offer reflections on genealogies, sustainability, ecologies, and the varied landscapes of the Western wild. This online journal serves as an on-going rumination on this months-long passage traversing both familiar and unfamiliar land. Ray’s reflections are rooted in both a personal endeavor towards liberation and an historical inquiry into complex questions of identity, landscapes of survival, resilience, and revival.

A note on Vol. 1: This is a personal account and includes descriptions of addiction and relapse, as well as suicide and suicidal ideation. There is also a brief mention of the historical violence enacted upon Indigenous women. If you or someone you know might be having thoughts of either relapse or suicide, there are many resources available online, including:

60 Digital Resources for Addressing Substance Use Disorders, Addiction, and Recovery

Dispatches from the Western Wild

Vol. 1: Libertas (Joshua Tree, January 17, 2021)

Vol. 2: Imperium (Bombay Beach, February 3, 2021)

Vol. 3: Dominion

Vol. 4: Exodus

About the Artist

Ray Anthony Barrett

Ray Anthony Barrett is a visual artist and chef, living and working in Los Angeles. For most of his career, his art practice has been concerned with language, its use as a tool to perpetuate power dynamics, and how meaning shifts in relation to images and perspective. Since 2018, Ray’s...

About the Series

Ray Anthony Barrett: Go Tell It On the Mountain is a commissioned project organized by Active Cultures, which traces the artist and chef’s months-long journey across the varied landscapes of the Western states. Through a multifaceted project—spanning writing, research, film, and cooking—and which unfolds over the course of two years, Ray interrogates the evolution of agricultural and land practices and the impact of dispossession and colonialism on foodways, tracing its roots from white settler colonialism to present day modes of capitalism and overconsumption.

Event Details

DATE: January 17, 2021 - December 31, 2022

LOCATION: Online

Registration

Registration has closed.

Thank you to those who attended!