Local photographer Jakian Parks celebrates African American rodeo culture with Oklahoma City exhibit – OU Daily

A photo from Jakian Parks’ gallery “The Black Land” titled “The Sanctified West.”
A photo from Jakian Parks’ gallery “The Black Land” titled “The Sanctified West.”
News reporter
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Photographer Jakian Parks’ “The Black Land: Rituals and Rejoicing in African American Rodeo Culture” features documentary photography capturing generations of Black equestrians.
“The exhibit to me means basically bringing out the Western, the Cowboys lifestyle out to a contemporary look of life,” Parks said. “Majority of Western work that you see is horses and things like this. This show is all about the lifestyle of the living cowboys and cowgirls.”
Parks, an Oklahoma native and self-taught photographer working primarily in film, was introduced to Black rodeo culture by his late aunt, Shay Nolan. His work has since evolved into an artistic commitment to documenting Black agricultural practices and equestrian history.
“The reflection is basically a reflection of who we are and where we came from,” Parks said. Parks said the title of ‘The Black Land’ represents pride felt by descendants of Black Americans and their contributions to the foundation of the United States.
The exhibition confronts stereotypical depictions of Western culture by highlighting the diversity within rodeo communities. Parks’ photographs feature predominantly younger participants, challenging assumptions about who participates in cowboy culture.
“It’s really important that Jakian has been called to this vision and to encapsulate where the Oklahoma cowboy life is headed,” said Seaira Hull, an architecture student working with the National Organization of Minority Architects on the exhibition.
Hull emphasized the historical significance of Black communities in Oklahoma, noting the state once had 50 Black towns and now has 13. Oklahoma was even once proposed as an all-Black state, Parks added.
The Oklahoma Cowboys organization is closely tied to the project. Hull worked with Parks on both the organization and the exhibition’s conceptual foundation, spending significant time exploring questions of identity and cultural meaning with community members.
Join those invested in furthering our work.
“When you work with him, speak with him, you grow,” Hull said of Parks. “I would say it’s ignited an essence of curating for meaning and not just to create.”
Through ritualistic practices merging African and Christian traditions, the exhibition explores cultural healing that continues to sustain Black communities. Parks’ photographs embody what the exhibition materials describe as “a quiet grace that redefines historical narratives” while resisting stereotypes historically imposed on Black bodies.
“I feel like the Western lifestyle is so one-centered, and this is taking it to a new look,” Parks said.
The subjects in Parks’ work are portrayed with full agency, free from invisibility, exploitation or exclusion. His images represent what the exhibition frames as a return to inherited land and a reclamation of independence.
Flowers, the guest curator, is a writer, archivist and educator from Houston whose work explores intersections of visual culture, cultural history and critical race theory. Her recent projects include oral histories documenting intergenerational knowledge within the African American community.
Working primarily in Black portraiture, Parks offers what the exhibition describes as “a visual lexicon that honors African American identity through an intimate, community-driven lens.” His documentary approach aims to elevate underrepresented narratives and capture often overlooked aspects of Black life in America.
The exhibition opened Nov. 6 and will be on view through June 1, 2026 at 11 NW 11th St., Oklahoma City.
This story was edited by Madisson Cameron. Tori Pham and Gretchen Schultz copy edited this story.
Simplify finding our local news and information.