Nikos Liapis

Fifty years ago, in the majestic opening sequence of The Searchers, John Ford started filling the frame with John Wayne from the very same spot.

This is Monument Valley and I’m right in the middle of it. Speechless, enchanted, thrilled to have at last my own part in this most familiar of Hollywood sets. For the last fifteen years, I’ve been travelling to America and every time I step out of the airport doors I get the buzz of that first visit to New York City. The warped feeling that you’re in a foreign, distant place which is also so incredibly familiar through the million images burnt in my brain after a lifetime of avid film watching and television grazing.

This is Monument Valley and I’m right in the middle of it. For real! Empty spaces, blue infinity skies, fluffy clouds, red dust everywhere, the towering mesas. A boy’s childhood dreams and legends assume their true scale and beauty and do their trick once again.