Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brent Kollock. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Brent , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I think the current project I am working on, a large photo book about the national sport of Mexico, charreria. I grew up in Texas, so I know rodeo, but this was something I was not expecting. It has shown me something I never knew, something that tells a great story of Mexico and its charros, cowboys, and also it made me see the entirety of the ‘western culture’, cowboys etc., in a new light. These are the first cowboys of the new world, and everything we know came from here, in the highlands of central Mexico. I came to Mexico to help my mother and to get away from the grind of living and working in the US. I was looking for something to spark my interest, a great story to tell. I found it in the sport of the charros, charreria. It is not only picturesque, it is also a living history of Mexico. It was recently made part of Mexico’s cultural identity/heritage by UNESCO, so it is now deemed such an important and vital part of Mexico’s cultural heritage and therefore protected. I wanted to discover something new to me, something that showed me a new side of the world, I was not expecting it to be this, this amazing and beautiful sport here in Mexico. But here I am, 5 years after starting this journey, ready to tell the story to a larger audience. It made me see again why I love photography and writing, to tell a story, to share an experience, to learn and to see the beauty in things we never knew.

Brent , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas with a BFA in painting and photography. I spent the first 20 years out of school as a painter. I had some successes and loved the media, but I always felt something was missing, a sort of immediacy, a sort of story that is not purely shot through my mind. I returned to photography as a means to capture the world and take it to my studio, and then I started to see that the story was so different between what I photographed and what I painted. I was lucky, I was able to mostly support myself as an artist, with the odd job to fill the gaps, and in that gift of time, I learned that telling the story was all important to me. I began to express myself in not just photography but also in writing, both short stories and poetry. I sold a book of short stories to a major publisher, but It was never published; long story. So, I published things on my own. A book of poetry and my photos, several small photo books about my travels in Mexico and now, I am working on a large photo book about the charreria, the traditional Mexican rodeo, which I will publish on my own in the first half of 2024. I have always been one who is motivated by the potential of making art, the ability to communicate with people you do not know, and yet speak a common language with. Be that words or pictures, it has become my focus and I now see the book as my replacement for the painting/drawing, the object has changed, the desire to tell a story has not.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I would say it would be the ability to build an audience. I have discovered, in many ways, that an audience is something that is transportable. it can follow you on your journey and hopefully support your vision. I am now becoming a bit more savvy about it all, how to build an audience, how to engage them in my work and my visions, and mostly, how to make the whole thing personal, like they are joining me on this journey. When I first started, there were far fewer tools to connect with people outside your immediate circle, but now, I see the entire world as potential audience and that is truly amazing and empowering. My means are small, and my hopes for future projects is large, how do I build an audience and take them on that journey, get that rush from the experience and pique their interest in topics that I find interesting and amazing? I have many projects ongoing now, and that is something I am learning helps an audience get excited and engaged with my vision. Today, the world is truly in your hands, the secret and the challenge is to discover how to utilize it to the fullest. I am still learning, but it is something that excites me greatly. To not rely on galleries or agents, that is what my goal is, and to that end, a certain freedom that comes with it.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, it is the ability to live a life that is contingent on a different set of criteria to measuring success. It is a personal and private challenge in many ways, to be better tomorrow than today and especially in a place where so few ever are allowed in. I like challenges, and what is more challenging than building an audience from nothing that not only appreciates your vision and your methods/style, but is also willing to pay for the objects you create and share in that experience you have already lived and are relating to them. It is an exciting and difficult path, but one that also offers adventures and experiences not often met in the world generally. My father used to tell me that success equals freedom, and I agree, but it also means a sort of satisfaction that you have made something that is meaningful to someone that you have never known and in ways that you could never imagine.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brentkollock.com
• Instagram: @brentkollock
• Facebook: Brent Kollock
• Other: Substack, @brentkollock

Image Credits
all images are mine, Brent Kollock, except the first one of me shooting at a wrestling event in Jalisco Mexico. That was shot by Karla Castillo.