Spirit West
IT'S HARD TO EXPLAIN BUT THAT'S THE APPEAL. THIS IS SPIRIT WEST. JUSTINE KURLAND'S PHOTOBOOK OF TEENAGE (MUTANT NINJA) GIRL TRIBES IN RURAL AMERICAN LANDSCAPES. IT'S NEITHER REPORTAGE NOR FANTASY:
RATHER A KIND OF DISTURBED NORMALITY.
The hunter-gatherer. This teenage heroine has stepped out of Urban Outfitters and bagged a bird in Justine Kurland's beyond rare
Spirit West
photobook. Could anything be more (un)natural?
Published in 2000. The book is so scarce that this copy is the only one currently offered for sale anywhere in the world right now.
There are some great photographs in this book. One of the few boys featured has his eyes covered as this girl lifts her top to change. See
much more of the book here. We absolutely love it.
Sat by the side of road, unseen by the incessant traffic. Justine Kurland doesn't document disaffected youth as such: she places these girls in out of the way places and makes a fiction of their most likely actions.
Not only is it mega rare but this is copy is one of just thirty issued with a signed print (shown above). It is number 29/30 and signed by Kurland.
Another boy is featured in this image: pinned to the ground as the girl spits in his face. In reality he would throw her off. But this isn't real. It's something much better instead.