New photography exhibit on display at the UW Art Museum | New
June 24, 2022
“Alexis in Texas” by Luke Gilford is among the works in the exhibition “Luke Gilford: Portraits from the Queer Frontier” which is on view through December 23 at the UW Art Museum. (Photo by Luke Gilford)
A new exhibit at the University of Wyoming Art Museum offers an intimate glimpse into the community of the queer rodeo circuit.
“Luke Gilford: Portraits of the Queer Frontier” features photographs that document the diverse and ever-changing queer rodeo community. The images convey Gilford’s self-proclaimed “electric charge of belonging” when he discovered the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA) as an adult in 2016.
An emblematic sporting event of the American West, the rodeo evokes strength, independence, determination and courage. Gilford’s photographs speak the same visual language while simultaneously subverting prevailing expectations of gender, sexuality, and rural self-expression.
Photographer and filmmaker Gilford was born in Denver, Colorado. With his father a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, Gilford spent his formative years in the rodeo community. It was years later, when he discovered the IGRA, that he began to think of himself as part of a rodeo family.
Gilford is based in Los Angeles and New York. His work has been exhibited in venues around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam and NEXT FEST in Sundance. Her work has also been featured in The New York Times, Vanity Fair and Vogue. His first photographic monograph, “National Anthem”, was published in 2020.
“Luke Gilford: Portraits of the Queer Frontier” is funded by the Susan Moldenhauer FUNd for Contemporary Art. The exhibition is visible until December 23.
For more information about the UW Art Museum, call (307) 766-6622; visit the website at www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum; or follow the museum on Facebook and Instagram.
The UW Art Museum exhibits, preserves, and interprets visual culture from around the world to engage academic, local, state, national, and global communities. The art museum is located in the Centennial Complex at 2111 E. Willett Drive in Laramie. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday hours are extended until 7 p.m. Free entry.
