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The Quest West: Traversing New America

In the spirit of the American pioneers, two artists travel the country in search of its modern soul.

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The Quest West: Traversing New America

The Quest West: Traversing New America

The Quest West: Traversing New America

The Quest West: Traversing New America

The Quest West: Traversing New America

In the spirit of the American pioneers, two artists travel the country in search of its modern soul.

In the spirit of the American pioneers, two artists travel the country in search of its modern soul.

In the spirit of the American pioneers, two artists travel the country in search of its modern soul.

In the spirit of the American pioneers, two artists travel the country in search of its modern soul.

Xina Graham-Vannais
Xina Graham-Vannais
Xina Graham-Vannais
Xina Graham-Vannais
1 Campaign |
Philadelphia, United States
$8,471 USD 98 backers
56% of $15,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

All About What We're All About

Let us introduce ourselves, we are XINA (a photographer) and WILL WOLFF (a storyteller): two young, motivated artists with a few holes in our wallet where the cash usually goes. We are long time friends, artists, and collaborators. We are two of a generation of freshly-educated artists who are  taking on the preconceived notions of our nation and the art it has inspired. 

We want to find the New America -- where everything is still possible and nothing is left untouched. That strange country where you can eat the same sandwich in every state or sample fish from both coasts in the same day. We want to find the New America -- where womyn run cities, where minorities outnumber the assumed "majority," and where you can still die over your sexual orientation. We want to find, to capture and create, to build a web over so many states that the country can be outlined in our footsteps.

We will travel the same roads that have been the paths of great migrations and quests west for generations. We will redefine them with the photographic and written works they inspire in us.

To be blunt: these ambitions cannot be achieved through willpower alone. Art supplies, contrary to the beliefs circulated in the stationary isle, are damn expensive, and they often don't pay for themselves. A single roll of medium format 120 film, for example, can cost more than eight dollars, not including the additional fees associated with development or printing. As creators, we want to express the realities of our lives, despite the economic constraints forced upon us. We want to paint, to capture light, to weave narratives, and to tell stories. Yet, in order for this to happen, in order for artistic expression to continue to flourish in our society, we need people to step up and contribute. Here's what we're making. 

Art on the Endless Road

As Americans, it is our duty to keep pace with the demands of each new world order--to leave a generation better suited to the future than the ones that came before it. As artists and creatives, it is also our duty to express the realities of our lives--to document, to prove, and to envision. As young adults, we see the issues that plague our country: poverty, unemployment, drug abuse, racial tensions, obesity, corporate dominion, and hateful prejudice. And yet we also see the good, the mixed, and the strange. The upstarts, the rollers, and the country fairs. This is America, plain and simple, and today, in the spirit of the frontiersman who came before us,  we want to capture this country anew.

To achieve this goal, we need the American people to believe. The contributions of pioneers like you will help us surmount a gargantuan feat. We will encapsulate the zeitgeist of the early 21st century in stories, in photographs, in illustrations, and in poetry. This is the magnitude of what you will help us achieve:

  • A photographic installation by groundbreaking visual artist Xina Graham-Vannais, sprawling forty-five states and covering the limitless ground that unfurls between them. 
  • A collection of short stories written on the road by award-winning storyteller William Wolff Herbert -- including poetry, prose, non-fiction, and experimental writing inspired by the American notions of endurance and prosperity.
XINA : “It is important that I am a woman and being a woman, sharing in this traditionally male rite of passage, but my gender is not what makes this work important. These photographs will be revelatory because they are necessary as an account of our land in the 21st century. They need to be taken at this point in time to serve as a link between the rich exploratory work of Evans and Frank mid-twentieth century, and what is to come.”

WILL WOLFF : "We are living in the era of mechanical reproduction, of instant transport, and of split-second media frenzy. Like a sheet of paper folded in the center, today's narratives bind only the extremes and the edges. The sprawling middle ground, the places between train stations and airports, these grounds are now largely forgotten. With them, the magic, mystery, and overwhelming freedom once seen in the landscape of America. Gone but not forgotten, my work will imbue these places with the lore and legend of our rebel generation."

follow us on Instagram: @instagraham_vannais + @jerseyneue

What We Need

This fund, assuming the support of the people, would cover the costs of the cheapest possible transcontinental journey we've described above. It would allow two hard-working, talented artists to traverse the United States of North America, allowing the country to inspire a wealth of incredible creations.

Those associated costs break down into five major categories: Food, Shelter, Transport, Supplies, and Perks/Overhead. We've included an itemized breakdown of each of these categories below.

Food: $2,000

  • $20/day/person for two people for 50 days: $2,000                                                     (this is the estimated cost of shopping exclusively at grocery stores for the entire trip, plus the occasional and often essential caffeine fix)

Shelter: $2,350                                                                                      

There will be approximately twenty or so cost-free nights where we will be crashing with friends. We don't care if that means a couch, a carpet, or a front lawn. 

  • 30 nights at $55/night spent in organized campgrounds: $1,650                            (this is the averaged cost for spending a night at an organized campground)
  • 10 nights at $70/night spent in the cheapest of motels: $700                            (this is the averaged cost for spending a night at the cheapest motel available, reserved specifically for when weather makes it unsafe to camp or when campgrounds aren't available)

Transport: $2,295                                                                                          
We will be covering roughly 17,000 miles. The average cost for a gallon of gas is a little over $2.70. Our car gets about 20 mpg combined highway/city.

Supplies: $6,000                                                                                        
This portion of the funds covers the most essential of the supplies for our trip -- in Xina's opinion anyway -- film and film processing.

  • 35mm: $500*                                                                                                                              (cost for 2 rolls of 35mm/day for 50 days at $3/roll plus the cost of processing of each roll at another $2/roll)
  • 120: $5,500*                                                                                                                                (cost for 10 rolls of 120/day for 50 days at $8/roll plus the cost of processing each roll at another $3)

*covers the cost for processing at the insanely affordable and incredibly high quality establishment of Millers Pittsburg, in Pittsburg, KS. check them out!

Perks + Overhead: $2,250

**Important: we have added an additional $2,250 to our funding goal to cover the percentage that Indiegogo gathers off the top of our campaign and the cost of making and shipping our lovely perks.  

IF WE DONT REACH OUR GOAL: If it turns out we become unsuccessful in realizing our financial goal -- and depending on how far we fall short -- we will either organize a shorter trip or donate the money to non-profit photo organizations based here in Philly, like that of the incredible Philadelphia Photo Arts Center.

Art, Impact, and Legacy 

The American people have long established themselves as pioneers. This is the double-edged, crushing and liberating, truth of our country. It is clear we are a populace inclined to risk and reward, to progress, expansion, and uncertainty--whether through credit card companies, entrepreneurial cities, space explorations, Louisiana purchases, organized crime, or the avant-garde. 

We are a nation bound to the notion that freedom must express itself visibly, must prove itself in the endless miles of untouched highway we've created. As citizens, we express our freedoms in the ratification of these notions, in our practice of this non-constraint. 

In the year 2015, we still firmly believe that the American families of the 21st century continue to follow in these traditions. Our forefathers -- including Lewis and Clark, Kerouac, Boone, Steinbeck, and Lange -- all did the same. They followed in traditions as old as the country herself, and they were celebrated for this--for traveling the open road, for glimpsing the world unseen, and for documenting every freedom, value, and hardship. 

These founding theories of pioneering spirit, individualism and capitalism -- these are the cruel, advantageous ideologies that America was built upon. These are the philosophies that built the highways, that motivated those sprits that later traveled them, that incited the self-made men that rose from nothing to capture what is now widely known as the American dream. Today's United States might look a little different, but we believe firmly that the wheels are still churning. Yet with centuries, wars, world orders, and revolutions behind us, a question remains: 

how can we claim to know a land we no longer roam?

Lily from The Self-Directed Portrait -- XINA's most recent project

Risks & Challenges

Not enough money! Car failure! Camping catastrophe! Heat stroke! Road rage! Killer bees! Fears of inadequacy!

There are many opportunities for problems to arise while on the road, but thankfully we live in an age of communication and globalization. Help is often just a phone call away, while GPS systems live on our phones and music players. Both artists also happen to have extensive experience with tent camping, long-distance driving, and map reading, a fact that should help alleviate most obstacles that may come about. 

If their combined knowledge falls short, they are lucky enough to have the ability to tap into a rich legacy of Graham-Vannais family history. Xina's father, David Graham, is a talented fine arts photographer born into a tradition of roaming artistry. Having made seven similar trips himself, he will no doubt prove useful as a source of wisdom and guidance. Or maybe not.

Other Ways You Can Help

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Choose your Perk

Into The Sunset

$15 USD
Receive a personalized postcard sent from the road. Your correspondence will include original poetry, handwritten and signed by William Wolff Herbert.
Estimated Shipping
August 2015
7 claimed

Wish You Were Here

$25 USD
Receive TWO personalized postcards sent from the road. Your correspondences will include original poetry and stories from the trip, handwritten and signed by William Wolff Herbert.
Estimated Shipping
August 2015
7 claimed

Treasure Trove

$35 USD
Receive an eclectic sampling of souvenirs, artifacts, and process documents from the trip. You can expect to obtain at least five unique items, each hailing from a different destination.
Estimated Shipping
October 2015
7 claimed

Early Bird: Hit The Trail

$45 USD
LIMITED OFFER! Receive an original 8" x 10" inkjet color print of a photograph from the trip. You can expect the image to be printed on high-quality Epson luster paper before being signed and numbered by XINA herself.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
6 out of 20 of claimed

Hit The Trail

$50 USD
Receive a beautiful 8" x 10" inkjet color print of a photograph from the trip. You can expect the image to be printed on high-quality Epson luster paper before being signed and numbered by XINA herself.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
16 claimed

Grows In The Telling

$75 USD
Receive a unique manuscript containing an original short story written, hand-numbered, and signed by William Wolff Herbert.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
1 claimed

Early Bird: Most Wanted

$120 USD
LIMITED OFFER! Receive a beautiful 11" x 14" inkjet color print of a photograph from the trip. You can expect the image to be printed on high-quality Epson luster paper before being signed and numbered by XINA herself.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
6 out of 20 of claimed

Most Wanted

$145 USD
Receive a beautiful 11x14" inkjet color print of a photograph from the trip. You can expect the image to be printed on high-quality Epson luster paper before being signed and numbered by XINA herself.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
1 claimed

Manifest Destiny

$180 USD
Receive three unique manuscripts containing three original short stories written, hand-numbered, and signed by William Wolff Herbert.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
0 claimed

Double Or Nothing

$200 USD
Receive TWO beautiful 11x14" inkjet color prints of photographs from the trip. You can expect the images to be printed on high-quality Epson luster paper before being signed and numbered by XINA herself.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
3 claimed

Early Bird: Frontiersman

$200 USD
LIMITED OFFER!! Receive a beautiful 16" x 20" inkjet color print of a photograph from the trip. You can expect the image to be printed on high-quality Epson luster paper before being signed and numbered by XINA herself.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
0 out of 30 of claimed

Frontiersman

$250 USD
Receive a beautiful 16" x 20" inkjet color print of a photograph from the trip. You can expect the image to be printed on high-quality Epson luster paper before being signed and numbered by XINA herself.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
0 claimed

Best Of Both Worlds

$300 USD
Receive a unique manuscript containing an original short story written, hand-numbered, and signed by William Wolff Herbert. Plus, a beautiful 16" x 20" inkjet color print captured by XINA, also signed.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
0 claimed

Everything's Bigger In Texas

$350 USD
Receive TWO beautiful 16" x 20" inkjet color prints of photographs from the trip. You can expect the images to be printed on high-quality Epson luster paper before being signed and numbered by XINA herself.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
0 claimed

Legends & Lore

$350 USD
Receive a signed, dedicated hardcover book containing all written works completed on the road. This is the ultimate summation of Mr. Herbert's poetry and prose, as inspired and altered by the journey itself.
Estimated Shipping
January 2016
1 claimed

High Roller

$400 USD
Receive a beautiful 20" x 24" inkjet color print of a photograph from the trip. You can expect the image to be printed on high-quality Epson luster paper before being signed and numbered by XINA herself.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
0 claimed

Friends In High Places

$450 USD
Receive a unique manuscript containing an original short story written, hand-numbered, and signed by William Wolff Herbert. Plus, a beautiful 20" x 24" inkjet color print captured by XINA, also signed.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
2 claimed

Double Bagger

$550 USD
Receive TWO beautiful 20" x 24" inkjet color prints of photographs from the trip. You can expect the images to be printed on high-quality Epson luster paper before being signed and numbered by XINA herself.
Estimated Shipping
November 2015
0 claimed

The Oregon Trail

$650 USD
Receive a signed, dedicated hardcover book containing all written works completed by William Wolff Herbert. Additionally, you'll get a beautiful 20" x 24" inkjet color print captured by the one-and-only XINA, also signed.
Estimated Shipping
January 2016
0 claimed

How The West Was Won

$1,000 USD
After the cross-country adventure of a lifetime, both artists will collaborate on a unique project to be offered solely to our greatest supporters. Recieve a carefully curated collection of the photographic and written works produced by both artists, conveniently published in hardcover form. You'll also receive a handwritten postcard every week of the trip, plus the contents of the Treasure Trove tier.
Estimated Shipping
January 2015
0 claimed
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