Charlene Cooper
Charlene Cooper was born in 1964 and grew up in the Los Alamos area on a ranch, which set the stage for most of the rest of a life spent Cowboying. She has a great sense of independence developed over a lifetime of working on ranches and in the mountains and open spaces of the American West. She exemplifies a way of life in which one’s physical labor is the currency that one can exchange for goods and money. A life lived in close relationship with nature, where physical spaces and the passing of time are real and true. She and other cowboys are part of the workforce that run cattle over great distances, sometimes through difficult terrain and weather, to get beef to American homes and restaurants. These people and this process are often invisible. Remarkably, Charlene has documented much of what she has seen and experienced. She is a talented and prolific photographer who has photographed her work, the people that she has worked with and the places she has been. She is the author of an incredible and unique archive of a lifestyle that is not often seen and is increasingly rare.