Leonardo Magrelli, West of Here, 2021

Leonardo Magrelli investigates the blurry lines between photography and photorealistic CGI, and between image appropriation and online circulation in his series West of Here. What looks at first glance like a traditional black and white photographic survey of Los Angeles, is in fact a collection of game images from the parodic game version of the city: Los Santos. Magrelli became interested in the online circulation of images and gameplay videos, extracted from GTA V to YouTube, internet forums and webpages where players can download graphical mods.

The photographer began to stumble upon more or less accidental re-enactments of photographs from iconic artists who documented Californian scenes through their cameras in the past. From Jeff Wall to John Divola, from Ed Ruscha to Robert Adams, the photographic references from the found screenshots inspired Magrelli to collect these online images and compile them in a photo book. Rather than playing the game and engaging directly with the photographic act, the strategy of appropriation is used to deconstruct the photographic medium within the video game and revealing how a photographic way of seeing is incorporated almost subconsciously by the players and the game camera itself.

Blending these images in a single narrative through the pages of the book, West of Here creates a collective memory of a place that does not exist and yet – through countless representations and mediation of Los Angeles and California through film and photography – has become a simulacrum substituting its original indexical reference. Finally the work and its process reflect on the role of authorship and issues of ownership of the game image, which travels through many hands – from the photographers producing images for game textures to game developers creating photorealistic 3D worlds, form players taking in-game screenshots to modders simulating camera apparatuses and film aesthetics, and from youtubers sharing their gameplay to artists appropriating internet screenshots – negotiated between image economies and with different ethical implications.

More by Leonardo Magrelli: leonardomagrelli.com