Gunsmoke City
By
Kath Ashill
2023
Gunsmoke City 2023
Gunsmoke City was a film installation and theatre set of a fake cowboy village and exhibited at Greenman 2023 and then moved to a Swansea gallery setting, GS Artists in autumn 2023
"Fresh from Green Man Festival,Gunsmoke City explores the narrative of a fake cowboy town based in the Swansea Valleys village of Seven Sisters. The location is an unlikely setting for the masculine idyll of the Wild West. Themes of the frontier and escapism are pushed through the imagery in the film and the set.
Ashill plays the role of lead cowboy in full drag, offering a tongue in cheek critique of the genre of the Western and gender norms. The work was filmed at the original site of the cowboy attraction and features found footage and collected imagery of Gunsmoke City from local archives. The film also incorporates Ashill’ hand-painted animation. The performance score builds on a live performance (also titled Gunsmoke City) which the artist performed at Greenman festival 2022.The work was commissioned by Greenman Trust and debuted at Greenman festival 2023."
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