THE LOUISIANA COCKFIGHTERS MANUAL

Presented with the violent spectacle, the camera is as versatile as it is potent. It can expose the aggressors of the world or aggrandize them; it can redeem victims or humiliate them further; it can create empathy in the viewer, render them complicit, or simply desensitize them. I explore how these effects co-exist through images of Louisiana cockfighters during the final year of legal cockfighting in the United States. I created a manual to honor the history of the sport in the last state to outlaw it. It is a testament to the evolution of our values system as a nation and a people.