MIDWEST COWBOY
Occupying the space between myth and reality, the cowboy is a uniquely American character. Bursting with symbolism and patriotic themes — rugged individualism, honor, strength, resilience — the cowboy is an enduring and iconic folk hero but one that has rarely been examined.
The ways cowboys have been depicted in popular culture, and who has been excluded from those depictions is directly linked to the inaccurate stories America tells itself about race, gender, exceptionalism, expansion, and destiny. A growing body of literature and images have sought to expand and challenge these incomplete depictions, to correct the record and broaden the definition. This body of work looks to do the same.
Midwest Cowboy is centered around a diverse group of rodeos, based primarily in the Midwest. From bull riders in rural Ohio hoping to make it to the PBR, to black rodeos in the farmlands south of Chicago, gay rodeos that pay tribute to victims of the AIDS epidemic, to a Mexican jaripeo on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio.
Each rodeo incorporates its own rituals, traditions, and competitive events — paying homage to the history of the sport within their culture and elevating the values that are most important to them.
This project serves as a kind of cultural survey, meant to both document this community and expand the collective understanding of the diversity within it. Within this context, the series explores three overlapping themes: Identity, Dominion, and Tradition.
These themes, and the ways they shape distinct variants of cowboy culture within each community, shows how malleable, and inclusive even the most enduring archetype can be.
