Ivan McClellan's "Eight Seconds" is the result of more than a decade spent living inside Black Cowboy Culture. What began as an introduction to the Black rodeo in 2015 has become a sustained artistic collaboration built on trust and curiosity.
Moving across the United States with his camera, McClellan makes intimate portraits of a community where individualism, place, style, and athleticism converge, and where a new generation is reshaping the image of the American West in real time. The title refers to how bull riding is scored, but here it speaks to an interval in time where life and death are at stake.
Like the Cowboys he photographs, McClellan works in a space that demands total presence, where connection to animals and land meet to create moments of universal appeal. These photographs move beyond the rodeo arena to foreground a culture that demands individuality and self-expression. The result is a contemporary language that builds a new myth out of the old West.
Following a major publishing success in 2024 in occasion of the release of "
Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culture", this second edition is newly sequenced, presenting 91 previously unpublished images, and framed by a new introduction and foreword.
"Eight Seconds: Legacy in Motion" is a work about devotion, creativity, and the universal pursuit of excellence: an enduring reflection on what it means to commit fully to a life's work.
Ivan McClellan (born 1982 in Kansas City) is a photojournalist and designer based in Portland, Oregon. McClellan has collaborated with western brands like Wrangler, Stetson, and Ariat to elevate Black rodeo athletes, ranchers, and farmers on their platforms. He has also led creative projects for Apple and Instagram. McClellan has exhibited in museums and galleries nationwide including Booth Museum Griffin Museum of Photography, and had his first solo exhibition at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in 2022. His work has been published in Washington Post, ESPN, Elle, i-D, Dazed, and Atmos, among others. McClellan was selected to the 2022 PDN 30.
