When illustrator and artist James Bama moved to Wyoming in 1968, he began exploring
the Western identity through the photographs and paintings he made of his new friends
and neighbors. Although Bama, of Cody, quickly became known for his realistic paintings,
photographs were the foundation of his imagery.
An exhibition featuring Bama’s photography — “James Bama’s Photographs: Portraits
of the West” — is now on display at the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage
Center (AHC). The exhibition, located in the AHC’s loggia, runs through April 10,
2024.
The images offer fresh perspectives on representations of Western identities in Bama’s
photographic portraits. They capture dissonances between historical trappings and
the modern world, highlighting the complexity of Western histories and identities.
The photographic portraits look deeply into the people on the other side of the camera,
conveying a sense of the models’ humor, drama, beauty, strength, contradictions or
loneliness by tapping into the West’s unique mix of storytelling, self-representation,
history and contemporaneity.
“Many of us who live in the modern, rural West see ourselves in light of the West’s
past,” says Paul Flesher, AHC director and the exhibition’s curator. “Whether that
is a continuation of the lifeways from previous centuries, reenactments of events
and culture from those times, or simply drawing inspiration from them, Bama’s photographs
— like his paintings — capture that connection.”
The show constitutes a special “exhibition partnership” with the Buffalo Bill Center
of the West, in Cody, where “Portraits of the West” opened Oct. 21 and runs until
Aug. 4, 2024.
Curated in partnership with each other, the joint exhibition showcases more than 120
distinct photographs in the paired presentations, Flesher says.
“Beginning with a shared understanding of Bama’s approach, each exhibit fills in the
details of their visual exposition differently, weaving together a thematic framework
with distinctive selections,” he adds. “The result is a powerful visual conversation
about James Bama’s maturing vision of the West.”
For more information, visit the AHC website at www.uwyo.edu/ahc/.
