Purple Martin Press

The Purple Martin Press is pleased to announce the publication of Peter Kayafas: The Way West, the third monograph in Kayafas’s ongoing work photographing along the roads of the United States. With an essay by acclaimed writer, Rick Bass.

New York–based photographer Peter Kayafas presents images from ten years and thousands of miles of travel in the Plains States. A continuation of his ongoing exploration of the backroads of America, Kayafas uses his camera to investigate the histories and ritualized traditions of people living in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado. Their way of life and their connection to the land and the animals that comprise their lifeblood, are enduring themes. So, too, is the passage of young people from childhood into adulthood, accumulating experience and knowledge of the struggles and challenges of life in the West. The backdrop for this compelling narrative is the dramatic, rugged, and wide-open landscape of the American West in its layered complexity.