honorable mention
Susan Surface united states
title
First Frontier
Upon learning there was a bull riding school near my residence, I decided to ride, as my father did. I was hesitant about conservative rodeo culture, and sought evidence of bull riders like me. I was comforted by finding several other women, queer and Asian riders, but found none who combined even two of the three. Yet the First Frontier welcomed me, and now I defend rodeo to its outsiders far more than I justify my presence to participants.
Each ride exercises the grand archetypes: mastery over nature, nationalistic sentiment, winning and losing power. Rodeo provides a highly controlled stage-set, albeit one with legitimate risks, upon which to confront the threats lurking beyond its protocols. Cowboys risk delusions of rugged individualism, but a rider is never truly alone with a bull. At local rodeos, one’s own competitors help each rider rig up, pull open the chute, and defend her in the arena. The bulls themselves, beef cattle destined for the slaughterhouse, ultimately finance the sport.
Riders joke that everyone who mounts a bull is insane. Generally, we are traumatized. The practice helps me function through physical sensations of fear. I no longer avoid things solely because I fear them. I still fear every ride. This is unlikely to change
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entry description
The “First Frontier” rodeo circuit is one of twelve across the nation and is comprised of the states that made up the original thirteen colonies. This reminds us of the origins of rodeo, and an obstinate defense of country-western culture in a region that is little known for harboring it. Since 2010, I have been competing and photographing as a bull rider on the First Frontier. As even “documentary” photographs are constructed, I appear in the flow of images, not as a hero, but as one of the many performers involved.Upon learning there was a bull riding school near my residence, I decided to ride, as my father did. I was hesitant about conservative rodeo culture, and sought evidence of bull riders like me. I was comforted by finding several other women, queer and Asian riders, but found none who combined even two of the three. Yet the First Frontier welcomed me, and now I defend rodeo to its outsiders far more than I justify my presence to participants.
Each ride exercises the grand archetypes: mastery over nature, nationalistic sentiment, winning and losing power. Rodeo provides a highly controlled stage-set, albeit one with legitimate risks, upon which to confront the threats lurking beyond its protocols. Cowboys risk delusions of rugged individualism, but a rider is never truly alone with a bull. At local rodeos, one’s own competitors help each rider rig up, pull open the chute, and defend her in the arena. The bulls themselves, beef cattle destined for the slaughterhouse, ultimately finance the sport.
Riders joke that everyone who mounts a bull is insane. Generally, we are traumatized. The practice helps me function through physical sensations of fear. I no longer avoid things solely because I fear them. I still fear every ride. This is unlikely to change
about the photographer
Susan Surface (b. 1981, Tacoma, WA) is a photographer and architect. Her current work, “First Frontier,” documents her participation as a bull rider in rodeos on the East Coast of the United States. She earned a B.F.A. in Integrated Design from Parsons School of Design in 2004, and an M.Arch with graduate qualification in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies from Yale School of Architecture in 2013.back to gallery