Courtesy of artist and Tulsa Artist Fellow Adam Davis.
ROAD TO THE RODEO
Adam Davis: Black Magic
September 30–October 3, 2026
Tulsa + Beggs, Oklahoma
Tulsa Artist Fellow Adam Davis presents Road to the Rodeo, a multi-day series of gatherings celebrating Oklahoma’s Black rodeo community and culminating in the 24th Demery Family Rodeo in Beggs, Oklahoma.
Extending Black Magic, Davis’ ongoing photographic project rooted in Black communities across the United States and African diaspora, Road to the Rodeo brings photography into conversation with film, literature, music, dance, and the living traditions of Oklahoma’s Black Western culture.
Since moving to Tulsa, Davis has deepened his practice through sustained engagement with Oklahoma’s Black rodeo community—photographing riders and families, building relationships across generations, and tracing histories that continue to shape the American West. At the center of Road to the Rodeo is his relationship with the Demery family, one of Oklahoma’s longstanding Black rodeo families.
For more than two decades, generations of the Demery family have gathered riders, families, and community around their rodeo in Beggs, carrying forward Oklahoma’s living Black Western heritage. Traditionally held around the Fourth of July, the rodeo returns this fall in a special edition co-produced by Davis and the Demery family.
Across four days, Road to the Rodeo moves from the cinema to the bookstore, Tulsa Artist Fellowship Studios, and ultimately the rodeo arena—inviting audiences to encounter Black Western life through images, stories, movement, gathering, and horsemanship.
Courtesy of artist and Tulsa Artist Fellow Adam Davis.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 | 7 PM
Screening of Jordan Peele's film NOPE + Black Magic Tintype Exhibition
Circle Cinema
10 S Lewis Ave, Tulsa, OK 74104
Road to the Rodeo begins with a special one-night screening of Jordan Peele’s Nope, accompanied by a presentation of Davis’ Black Magic tintype portraits.
The evening also marks the big-screen debut of Cleo Reed’s made-in-Oklahoma “American Dream” music video, directed by Davis.
Peele’s 2022 film follows siblings OJ and Emerald Haywood, Hollywood horse trainers who inherit their family ranch and encounter an unexplained presence above the California landscape. Paired with Davis’ photographs, the screening opens Road to the Rodeo through questions of Black visibility, image-making, horsemanship, and the American West.
2h10min - Thriller/Horror/Sci-Fi - Rated R - English
Tickets: $12. Tickets available here.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 | 5:30 PM
Children's book reading of My Daddy is a Cowboy
Palomino Books & Music
2411 E Admiral Blvd, Tulsa, OK
Families are invited to Palomino Books & Music for a reading of Stephanie Seales’ award-winning children’s book My Daddy Is a Cowboy by Oklahoma calf-roping cowboy Lindon Demery.
Following the reading, families can gather and be photographed with horses on site. Light bites and beverages will be available, and the first 25 registered guests will receive a complimentary copy of the book.
Free and open to the public. Registration available here.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 | 6–9 PM
First Friday Black Magic Rodeo Takeover
Tulsa Artist Fellowship Studios
109 M.L.K. Jr Blvd, Tulsa, OK 74103
For First Friday, Davis brings Black Magic to Tulsa Artist Fellowship Studios through visual art, dance, fashion, and gathering.
Davis will debut new work as the featured artist in the next iteration of Projection, the public-art series created by Tulsa Artist Fellow Tatyana Fazlalizadeh for the Studios' façade.
Inside, Davis’ studio transforms into a vintage Western pop-up featuring local vendors. From 7:30–9 PM, join us on the rooftop for free line dancing and a dance party ahead of Saturday’s rodeo.
Western attire encouraged!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 | 9 PM
First Friday After Hours
Lofi Pizza
1301 E 15th St, Tulsa, OK 74120
The evening continues off-site at Lofi Pizza with drinks, music, and Neapolitan pizza from visiting chef-in-residence Brandon Stanciell, founder of Los Angeles-based Pizza Ananda.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3 | 5 PM
24th Demery Family Rodeo
Demery Family Rodeo
5452–5492 E0890 Rd, Beggs, OK 74421
Road to the Rodeo culminates in Beggs with the 24th Demery Family Rodeo.
For more than two decades, generations of the Demery family have brought riders, families, and community together around their rodeo. This fall, Davis joins the family to co-produce a special edition of this longstanding tradition.
The evening brings together bronc and bull riding, barrel racing, pony express teams, and community for a celebration of Oklahoma’s living Black Western heritage.
Tickets: $10, available at the gate.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Adam Davis is a photographer and filmmaker from Brooklyn, New York, currently based in Tulsa as a Tulsa Artist Fellow. His practice centers photography as a means of building community, preserving histories, and expanding representations of Black life.
Davis began Black Magic while living in Los Angeles, developing an ambitious tintype portrait project documenting Black Americans and the global African diaspora. Since relocating to Oklahoma, his work has increasingly engaged the histories and contemporary communities of the American West, with particular attention to Black riders, rodeo families, and Western culture.
Road to the Rodeo brings these relationships into public space, extending the photographic archive beyond the image and into the communities, traditions, and gatherings from which it emerges.
Adam Davis, Tulsa Artist Fellowship Studios, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 2024. Courtesy of Tulsa Artist Fellowship.