
Cowboys
After Barbed Wire
Ute Behrend(Author)
BUMMBUMMBOOKS (Publisher)
Published on 1. September 2025
Book
Hardback
192 pages
978-3-948059-13-2 (ISBN)
Description
The cowboy is an invention
With her brand new publication Cowboys | After Barbed Wire, Cologne-based artist Ute Behrend takes a multifaceted and surprising look at one of pop culture's most enduring icons: the cowboy. It says so right on the back cover: the cowboy is an invention. And that is precisely the central thesis that Behrend pursues in her work with wit, empathy, and analytical acuity.
Historically speaking, the real cowboy only existed for a short period of time between 1865 and 1880. Mostly, it were not white pioneers, but former slaves, Mexicans, or indigenous men who captured and sold cattle herds that had been released during the American Civil War. But history was quickly overshadowed by myths, films, advertising images, and a persistent ideal of masculinity and freedom, which was strongly influenced in the beginning by Buffalo Bill's Western shows, including those in Europe.
For many years, the photographer followed the diverse footprints of cowboys - from Cologne Carnival to rodeos and farms in Belgium and Spain to the United States, which she visited three times during the course of this long-term project. The result is a multifaceted visual narrative in which we encounter the men who capture the cattle, the men who kill it, and the men who ride horses and bulls - seemingly never in doubt as to what they are doing and how they are performing. The photographs, compositions, juxtapositions, texts, and collages all bring us intimately close to them; They reveal their pride, as well as their forlornness. The camera questions and confronts the cowboys-in Susan Sontag's sense of the term, in quotation marks-with humor, but always with respect. Reinforcing the impression that they are mere performers, these cowboys have become figurines. They are quotations, projections, roles. Ute Behrend's work exposes them as actors in a cultural spectacle - without taking their dignity away.
The invention of barbed wire (as in the subtitle After Barbed Wire) marks the end of the open prairie and thus also heralds the inevitable fading away of the original cowboy. The claim on a young man's T-shirt at the opening of the book stating "the world needs more cowboys" shifts during the course of the book towards a question: "Does the world still need more cowboys?"
Ultimately, however, Ute Behrend naturally entrusts the reader to come to their very own conclusions - as all great storytellers do.
When I recently told a friend about this, she was certain she had heard of this tribe before.
As it happens, I made it all up myself.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
German
Place of publication
Köln
Germany
Target group
visuell intersessiert, kunstaffin, neugierig, poetisch, modern, gender-bewußt, Medien interessiert, feministisch und identitätssuchend, Fotografen, Psychologen, Fotografinnen, Feministinnen, Feministen, Psychologinnen, Kunstinteresiertes Publikum, Jugendliche, Eltern von Jugendlichen, Naturliebhaber, Tierfreunde, Bärenforscher, Frauen, Männer,
Illustrations
127
Dimensions
Height: 30.3 cm
Width: 22.6 cm
Weight
1300 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-948059-13-2 (9783948059132)
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Author
Künstlerin
Ute Behrend ist eine deutsche Fotografin und Video-Künstlerin. Nach dem Studium der Fotografie veröffentlichte sie ihr erstes Buch,"Girls, some Boys and other Cookies", 1996, im Scalo Verlag in Zürich. 2005 folgte, in Verbindung mit einer Preisverleihung im Museum Ludwig, in Köln, das Buch "Märchen/Fairy Tales"; publiziert bei Walter König. Zimmerpflanzen, erschienen im Snoeck Verlag, 2008 und "The last year of childhood" im Powershoovel Verlag in Tokio 2011. Ihr Buch, "Bärenmädchen/Bear Girls", erschien 2019 bei BUMMBUMM BOOKS. Dieses Werk wurde in Israel, Spanien, Litauen, Deutschland, Griechenland, der Schweiz und den Niederlanden gezeigt und erhielt zahlreiche lobende Erwähnungen sowie den Julia-Cameron-Preis und den Deutschen Fotobuchpreis. Ihr Arbeit "Back to Nature" wurde für den Merck-Preis 2020 nominiert. 2021 wurde diese Arbeit als eine von 6 Einzelausstellungen beim Copenhagen Photofestival gezeigt. 2023/24 ist ihr Buch "Cars and Cows" erschienen und ihr aktuellstes Werk "Cowboys" ist 2025 wieder bei BUMMBUMM BOOKS heraus gekommen. Ute Behrend lebt und arbeitet in Köln. Ute Behrend is a German Photographer and Video Artist based in Cologne in Germany. After studying Photography, she published her first Book "Girls some Boys and Other Cookies", with Scalo Publishers in Zürich. Moreover, Ute Behrend published the following books: »Märchen/Fairy Tales«, 2005 with Walter König, »Zimmerpflanzen« with Snoeck, 2008 and »The Last year of childhood« by Powershoovel in Tokio, 2011. Her book "Bärenmädchen / Bear Girls" was published in 2019 with BUMMBUMM BOOKS. It was shown in Israel, Spain, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, Switzerland and the Netherlands and received numerous honorable mentions as well as the Julia Margaret Cameron Award and the German Photo Book Prize. Her work "Back to Nature" was nominated for the Merck Prize in 2020. In 2021 this work was shown as one of 6 solo exhibitions at the Copenhagen Photofestival. Her book "Cars and Cows" was published in 2023/24, and her latest work, "Cowboys", was released by BUMMBUMM BOOKS in 2025. Ute Behrend lives and works in Cologne.
ISNI: 0000 0000 4483 3478
Ute Behrend ist eine deutsche Fotografin und Video-Künstlerin. Nach dem Studium der Fotografie veröffentlichte sie ihr erstes Buch,"Girls, some Boys and other Cookies", 1996, im Scalo Verlag in Zürich. 2005 folgte, in Verbindung mit einer Preisverleihung im Museum Ludwig, in Köln, das Buch "Märchen/Fairy Tales"; publiziert bei Walter König. Zimmerpflanzen, erschienen im Snoeck Verlag, 2008 und "The last year of childhood" im Powershoovel Verlag in Tokio 2011. Ihr Buch, "Bärenmädchen/Bear Girls", erschien 2019 bei BUMMBUMM BOOKS. Dieses Werk wurde in Israel, Spanien, Litauen, Deutschland, Griechenland, der Schweiz und den Niederlanden gezeigt und erhielt zahlreiche lobende Erwähnungen sowie den Julia-Cameron-Preis und den Deutschen Fotobuchpreis. Ihr Arbeit "Back to Nature" wurde für den Merck-Preis 2020 nominiert. 2021 wurde diese Arbeit als eine von 6 Einzelausstellungen beim Copenhagen Photofestival gezeigt. 2023/24 ist ihr Buch "Cars and Cows" erschienen und ihr aktuellstes Werk "Cowboys" ist 2025 wieder bei BUMMBUMM BOOKS heraus gekommen. Ute Behrend lebt und arbeitet in Köln. Ute Behrend is a German Photographer and Video Artist based in Cologne in Germany. After studying Photography, she published her first Book "Girls some Boys and Other Cookies", with Scalo Publishers in Zürich. Moreover, Ute Behrend published the following books: »Märchen/Fairy Tales«, 2005 with Walter König, »Zimmerpflanzen« with Snoeck, 2008 and »The Last year of childhood« by Powershoovel in Tokio, 2011. Her book "Bärenmädchen / Bear Girls" was published in 2019 with BUMMBUMM BOOKS. It was shown in Israel, Spain, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, Switzerland and the Netherlands and received numerous honorable mentions as well as the Julia Margaret Cameron Award and the German Photo Book Prize. Her work "Back to Nature" was nominated for the Merck Prize in 2020. In 2021 this work was shown as one of 6 solo exhibitions at the Copenhagen Photofestival. Her book "Cars and Cows" was published in 2023/24, and her latest work, "Cowboys", was released by BUMMBUMM BOOKS in 2025. Ute Behrend lives and works in Cologne.
ISNI: 0000 0000 4483 3478
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ISNI: 0000 0005 1768 9913