Jessie Dinan

SMALL TOWN RODEO

«Small town rodeo» is a collection of images taken from 2017 to 2020 in rural areas of Victoria and New South Wales, Australia. For the realization of this project, Jessie Dinan set out to photograph something completely foreign to her, and out of her comfort zone. Rodeos have long been a popular competitor and spectator sport in Australia, full of action and in which animals and people find a way to coexist for the sake of the show.
While in the middle of one riding, she found that the action behind the scenes and the friendly nature of the locals was much more compelling than the rodeo itself. What we can see in her detached but very intimate portraits is a world abiding by its own rules, exclusive and closed by definition. Nonetheless, people’s gestures and smiles are quite ordinary, allowing us to empathize and deepen our contact with this far away world.
«Small town rodeo» is still an ongoing series that the author plans on developing further, to create a body of work that reflects and captures the Australian life and spirit in these rural areas.

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THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Jessie Dinan is an Australian photographic artist based in Melbourne, Australia. She studied Visual Arts at Latrobe University, majoring in Printmaking, where she came to love the creative process of making an image. She had the opportunity to relocate to New York City for three years. It was there she found herself wandering the streets with a 35mm camera, photographing the energy of the city, and the diversity of its people. Returning to Australia, she has pursued her love for street photography, spending time travelling the world and striving to make any image better than the last. She works with film, developing her negatives by hand, and creating her images through various darkroom techniques. The work she makes is her way of looking and reacting to the world, its everyday moments, human interactions, and way of life.

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