Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culture: Photographs by Ivan McClellan  

Author: Miss Rosen (Editor)
Publisher: Damiani
Year: 2024
Pages: 128
ISBN: 978-8862088121


In 2015, photographer Ivan McClellan attended the Roy LeBlanc Invitational in Oklahoma, the country’s longest-running Black rodeo, at the invitation of Charles Perry, director and producer of The Black Cowboy. “It was like going to Oz―there was all this color and energy,” McClellan says. “There was a backyard barbecue atmosphere … It felt like home.” Over the next decade, he embarked on journeys across America, crafting a multilayered look at contemporary Black rodeo culture. Whether photographing teen cowgirl sensation Kortnee Solomon at her family’s Texas stables, capturing bull riding champion Ouncie Mitchell in action or hanging out with the Compton Cowboys at their Los Angeles ranch, McClellan chronicles the extraordinary athletes who keep the magic and majesty of the “Old West” alive with high-octane displays of courage, strength and skill.