Dean West’s ‘Escaramuza’ opens across two floors of the CAMERA WORK Virtual Gallery

Dean West’s ‘Escaramuza’ is on view in the CAMERA WORK Virtual Gallery from 18 August to 29 September 2026, spread across two ‘floors’ of the Berlin gallery’s online exhibition space. The presentation pairs the new series with works from West’s ‘Ikebana’ and closes with two photographs from ‘American West’.

Escaramuza is the only women’s discipline within charrería, Mexico’s national sport. Riding sidesaddle in teams of eight, the horsewomen execute choreographed manoeuvres of exacting precision in elaborately embroidered gowns that CAMERA WORK likens to those of the Adelitas, the women of the Mexican Revolution.

West photographs the riders detached from any narrative setting: centred in the frame, against a neutral background, reduced to a silhouette. The wide-brimmed hat deliberately conceals the face, so that what is on show is not the individual but the costume, in which the gallery sees the history, craftsmanship and pride of an entire tradition condensed. CAMERA WORK describes the results as monumental, painterly images of serenity and dignity, and as a tribute to a tradition of female self-assertion.

The gallery presents ‘Escaramuza’ as an extension of West’s ‘American West’ series. He has spent several years working on the cultural history of North and Central America, and CAMERA WORK attributes to him a sculptural aesthetic built on form, line and a precise interplay of light. ‘Ikebana’, described as equally new, turns in near-meditative stillness to the centuries-old Japanese art of flower arranging; the gallery links the two series through traditions in female hands, discipline finding its form, and beauty born of precision.

Five works are singled out in the announcement: ‘Charras de Agua Santa, TX (Emily Rivera) #1’, ‘Escaramuza Flor de Aguileña, CO (Darline Gurrola) #2’ and ‘#3’, ‘Ikebana #2 (Haruka Sadler)’ and ‘Cali Silhouette #1’, all dated 2026. Each is an archival pigment print signed by the artist and offered in four formats, in editions of 25, 9, 6 and 3. A full list of exhibited works is available from the gallery on request.

The CAMERA WORK Virtual Gallery is accessible online at any hour, seven days a week, and the gallery says it stages more than ten group and solo exhibitions there each year. CAMERA WORK’s physical gallery is at Kantstraße 149 in Berlin, open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.