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The portrayal of the Wild West is still characterised by the romanticised image of white cowboys. This stereotype does not exactly correspond with real life. A quarter of the cowboys were African Americans, who had a considerable impact on this legendary period of American history. Yet Hollywood created a myth of only white western heroes, often based on Black American models. In other words the significance of the Black community is being ignored when it comes to the developments in US history. Due to this whitewashing hardly anybody knows about the existences of Black Cowboys.
In the past few years a Black community, who's members call themselves Black Cowboys, emerged in the US. And they are fighting for their involvement in American history becoming visible.
In 2022 and 2023 Sabine Bungert and Stefan Dolfen traveled from Maryland to California, from Arizona, through New Mexico to Texas, then to South and North Carolina, and finally Chicago. They met a lot of Black cowboys and Black cowgirls: bull riders, farmers, members of Black riding clubs, directors of museums, as well as female entrepreneurs, female pastors, and female artists. They visited trail ride events, Black Cowboy festivals, and rodeos. They created a comprehensive photographic series including video interviews with cowboys and cowgirls telling their story.
Sabine Bungert and Stefan Dolfen have been working on joined photographic long-term projects for 15 years. They are interested in the development of societies following social and ecological changes. They both studied photography at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. Apart from their joint art projects, Sabine Bungert also works for German and international magazines, and Stefan Dolfen is the founder of the design agency eye-d Designbüro in Essen. Both are members of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie e.V. (Germany Photographic Society).
The Stadthaus also presented their exhibition Kudzu in 2022.
Project management: Andrea Kreuzpointner
In collaboration with: Eileen Schumacher