Doug Hancock: Riders of the Buffalo Nations

A visual testament to the thriving rodeo culture of the First Nations reservations near the American–Canadian border

In Riders of the Buffalo Nations, photographer Doug Hancock explores the youth culture of the First Nations in the reservations of South Dakota and Montana, as coalesced around the rodeo. Rendered in both black and white and color, his striking, evocative photographs evince how the traditional culture of the Indigenous communities has altered over time. The rodeo figures as a metaphor for the daily fight for survival in the harsh reality of life on the reservation. Hancock's photographs testify to the challenges and problems facing his young subjects without reducing them to mere victims. He portrays them as emotionally multifaceted individuals―hopeful, contemplative, reckless, ambitious and full of potential―and foregrounds their voices by interspersing quotes throughout the volume. Hancock keeps his own written interventions to a minimum, offering only brief contextualizing explanations. Altogether, Riders of the Buffalo Nations is a sensitive and powerful portrait of a generation forced to hold their ground between a multifaceted cultural heritage and the complexities of modern life.

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