Space
"Growing up in the West, I have always been fascinated by the ways the landscape around us affects who we are, how the stories of our past collide with the built environment in such a tangible and immediate way. There's something about the extreme space and extreme scarcity of resources, which for me, brings history into stark relief. The Cabalgata Joaquin Murrietta is a coming together of past and present, myth and countermyth, in a traditional form that is quickly becoming endangered in our modern world. This was living history, the kind that takes hard work and common cause and is worth fighting for". - Britton Caillouette
Every year for forty years, Mexican Americans in the San Joaquin Valley of California ride on horseback for three days to advocate for farmworker rights and honor the legacy of notorious western outlaw, Joaquin Murieta. Filmed in black and white and set against a stark industrial landscape, Western myth clashes with contemporary realities to challenge conventional historical narratives.
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"The injustices of the past sometimes serve us in new ways in the present." Every year for forty years, Mexican Americans in the San Joaquin Valley of California ride on horseback for three days to State Historical Landmark 344 in Arroyo De Cantua, honoring the death of notorious western outlaw, Joaquin Murietta. Both a celebration of Mexican-American cowboy heritage and a farmworker rights protest, the Cabalgata challenges conventional historical narratives through a traditional ritual that is rapidly disappearing in contemporary California.
In California, history collides with the built environment in tangible and immediate ways. Extreme space meets industrial cacophony, myth clashes with countermyth and shadows come into stark relief.