Step Inside the Queer Rodeo Scene With Luke Gilford’s First NYC Exhibit

Luke Gilford was raised around the rodeo, but he didn’t see himself in the traditionally conservative world until he learned about the International Gay Rodeo Association. 

The photographer and filmmaker then spent four years traveling the Southwest to document intimate, tender and unexpected scenes in a thriving community within rural America’s queer rodeo circuit. Now, you can step inside its diverse, ever-changing world in Gilford’s first solo show in New York City, now open at SN37 Gallery (204 Front Street). The exhibit, National Anthem, runs through August 28. 

The work is also featured in a hardcover monograph of the same name, and is built on Gilford’s upbringing in Colorado, where his father was in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Gilford spent much of his youth around rodeos, but he changed when he discovered the International Gay Rodeo Association and began to see himself as part of the rodeo family. Vanity Fair said the work is ​​“rich with Gilford’s tenderness for his subjects while imploring us to rethink the hegemony of the American cowboy.” 

Proceeds from the sale of works from the show will be donated to the International Gay Rodeo Association. Visit the SN37 Gallery’s website here for more information.