Rattlesnake Derbies, also called Rattlesnake Roundups take place primarily in the southwest U.S. in the Spring. Originally a purposeful event; ridding an isolated rural town of dangers to children and livestock as the wilderness is civilized, has evolved into a tourist spectacle. Rattlesnakes are gathered from surrounding landscapes (and beyond for the effect of numbers) and brought to a central point/town, where they are displayed, harassed, milked, slaughtered, skinned, taxidermically preserved and cooked-up to entertain a certain type of onlooker. Their bloody, primitive and extreme nature is what initially flooded my visual conscience. As I continued to observe them my primary interest was drawn to the people, peripherals and accouterments surrounding these “financial” sacrifices/slaughters. I comment both wryly and soberly on the casual acceptance of violence towards a species vilified primarily by religion/folklore and commercialized by struggling agrarian communities.
