Cowboy Girls

Seven years ago I reached the point when I had to satisfy my curiosity about whether the cowboy culture of the American West still exists. I took nothing for granted and went to explore. I have been venturing the western countryside ever since. On my second journey, in 2011 I encountered two little girls growing up on a remote family owned cattle ranch in Northern Nevada. I was immediately intrigued by their world so rich with animals that a puppy on a birthday was nothing to get too excited about. Home schooling, helping with ranch chores, riding, roping, and playing mostly by themselves, fills their days. Calfs are being born into the snow, dust is so fine you can see insect tracks, it takes hours to reach a grocery store. The sky over the treeless land covered by sagebrush seems beyond measure and the light is unbearably beautiful. Romance and harshness is branded in the visual image of a cowboy. The prevailing idea is still a lonesome twenty-something man moving from one camp to another whereas my cowboys are two girls growing up in a very masculine world that is not striving. Draught, high land prices and changes happening in the cattle industry are making this lifestyle nearly impossible to continue as it has been. I want to see the change through the lives of these two cowboy girls. My journey continues alongside them into their adulthood.