Four years ago, Milly Moorhead went West by marrying Rest West and moving to Tulsa. In Tulsa she devoted herself to completing her MFA in photography, trying to make Tulsa “home” and taking hundreds of photos not only in Oklahoma but many more on weekend trips to and through Arkansas. With all four of the West and Moorhead children in California, there were several trips further west and then there were the trips to New York where she sometimes works hanging shows for the Center for Cuban Studies.
“I think people go through productive and non-productive periods,” says West. “In Oklahoma at first, I had to try to make things interesting, while in Mississippi, the inspiration comes easy."
“I’m happy with my Oklahoma work, in particular the collection which deals with the recognition of the everyday artist-the machinist, the sign-maker, the grocer who stacks the oranges in the grocery store.” |
Though the collection spans the country, West found a different kind of inspiration in Oklahoma. Tulsa has a wealth of industrial art and art deco architecture, but it has much more. Signs of a generation struggling to find identity after the oil boom of the 30’s and 40’s. The cover of the book for this collection is simpler. It is a painted American Flag covering most of a make-shift church just west of the Arkansas River from downtown Tulsa.
“The question in this and all the photos for this series is - Who's art is it anyway? The real artist is the unknown painter. He wanted to bring awareness to his church and what it stood for, while I am just admiring and documenting.” |
