Wild West of the East

In August of 1960, Norman Mailer drove from his summer home in Provincetown, Massachusetts to the summer home of Senator John Kennedy in Hyannis.  Jacqueline Kennedy asked Mailer what Provincetown was like. “It’s the Wild West of the East,” he replied. Mailer also described Provincetown as the last democratic town in America where everyone was absolutely equal. Set on the tip of Cape Cod at the end of the world, surrounded by water on three sides and drenched in golden sun, Provincetown is as mutable as the people who walk the streets or the changing seasonal landscape. It’s a heretic’s dream of somewhere with no boundaries. “The Wild West of the East” is a street portrait series that examines the people of Provincetown and their stories, all taken in real time in public. 
 

From an empty space where the Pilgrims first landed, to a Portuguese fishing village, to an artist’s colony and now a LGBTQ+ community Provincetown has always been a transformative space. This tradition of acceptance lies deep. To many, it is a found Neverland where the concept of “play” is encouraged, and the confines of society are stripped away. Anthony Bourdain, who famously got his start as a dishwasher in Provincetown, described it as “a wonderland of tolerance, [with a] longtime tradition of accepting artists, writers, the badly behaved, the gay, the different. It was paradise.”   For many, the conscious self is taken away with the tide. This sense of freedom is palpable. It is creative, sexual and exploratory. As one states, “I’ve painted my face 100 different ways walking into town and I’ve finally found a place where freaks like me are supposed to be.” 

Still famous for its people-watching, Commercial Street serves as a thoroughfare where drag queens bark, parades crawl, leather men strut, and creatively dressed (or barely dressed at all) are in transit. Historically, among those might be writers, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill and Mailer himself or artists such Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, and even Keith Haring or Andy Warhol. Quickly fooled by trinket shops and tourist traps, Provincetown if often criticized as having lost is Bohemian feel or seedy charm. A night out on the town, when the sun goes down and the sea is out of sight, reveals that this is not lost and it is the people who make Provincetown what it is, not the place itself. As a newcomer states “it is a site of connecting to a greater queer history – learning about the wonderful traditions and rituals a community built before me. It’s about a place of exploration of identity, making memories with good friends, and contributing to a place that has allowed me to be more fully alive.”