Karoliina Paatos: Heroes & Cowboy Girls

The Heroes & Cowboy Girls exhibition portrays aspects of cowboy culture that are usually marginalized in the United States. It explores the roles of girls and women on ranches, as well as the significance of gay rodeo as a subculture opposing discrimination.

Rodeo is a competitive sport that tests traditional cowboy skills such as riding, roping, and cattle handling. The Heroes series explores gay rodeo, which challenges traditional gender and sexual norms within cowboy culture. Gay rodeo combines drag culture and sports into an event that welcomes everyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

Gay rodeo emerged in the 1970s as a response to discrimination, when openly gay individuals were not welcomed in traditional rodeo. The community that has grown around gay rodeo has become a chosen family for many of its members. Paatos has documented gay rodeos in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.

The Cowboy Girls series follows two sisters, Jette and Kole, as they grow up and become independent on a remote cattle ranch in Nevada. While the family provides security and continuity, it also imposes expectations and limitations on the sisters. Changes in the livestock industry shape Jette and Kole's upbringing. With fewer people able to make a living from cow-calf operations, the new generation must seek alternative ways to sustain themselves.

Photographer Karoliina Paatos is interested in women's roles and experiences in traditionally masculine environments. Women play an active role in cowboy culture, rodeos, and ranching. They compete in rodeos just as men do. Paatos examines why, despite their involvement, women remain largely invisible in the visual representation of cowboy culture.

Karoliina Paatos traveled to Nevada fifteen years ago, unaware that she would end up documenting cowboy life for years.

Paatos is a visual artist and photojournalist working in both Finland and the United States. She lives in Rovaniemi, Finland. Paatos graduated as a photographer from the Lahti Institute of Design in 2006 and earned a Master of Arts in Photography from Aalto University in 2017. In 2018, she completed a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Arizona. She is currently preparing a doctoral dissertation at the University of Lapland on the topic On Longing: Representations of Longing in Art Photography.