Satan's Casual Demise
by Mark Sawrie
portfolio special mention call 'URBANAUTICA INSTITUTE AWARDS 2020', 2020
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.