Gipsy Horses
Photographer Charly García discovered an unexpected cowboy community in Flanders, Belgium – far from the landscapes usually associated with this culture. He spent nine months alongside them, documenting daily routines, work, and moments of quiet between events. Rather than focusing on rodeo spectacle, his photographs centre on the people themselves, revealing the relationships, gestures, and everyday lives that sustain the community.
Photography Charly García
Gipsy Horses is a documentary project photographed in Flanders, Belgium, far from the landscapes traditionally associated with cowboy culture. The project began with a simple question: do cowboys exist in Flanders? The answer was yes, and it took shape through a community that lives and embodies this identity with honesty and commitment.
At the centre of the project is William Dougan, born in Flanders and of Romani heritage, who dreamed of becoming a cowboy from a very young age. Not out of a desire to “be American,” but because the aesthetics, values, and way of being represented by cowboy culture resonated deeply with him. Around him, a group of men and women formed a community rooted in daily work, shared effort, and a strong bond with horses and the land.
For the photographer, this project is also deeply personal. Growing up with a fascination for American imagery and later living abroad, he experienced a growing awareness of his own identity – Spanish by origin, yet shaped by distance, movement, and desire. At the ranch, he found a space where origin and choice coexist without contradiction, and where identity is not inherited alone, but consciously built.
Over nine months, the work was developed through close coexistence with the community: photographing training sessions, rodeos, labour, falls, laughter, and moments of stillness.
Over nine months, the work was developed through close coexistence with the community: photographing training sessions, rodeos, labour, falls, laughter, and moments of stillness. Rather than focusing on spectacle, the project centres on the people who sustain the ranch day after day. The rodeo is present, but it is the relationships, gestures, rituals, and everyday routines that form the true backbone of the story.
This is not a project about exoticism or imitation. The community is not performing an American fantasy; it is living a chosen identity with authenticity and conviction. Gipsy Horses explores the dialogue between where we come from and what we choose, questioning how identity is shaped through passion, belonging, and commitment.
Gipsy Horses explores the dialogue between where we come from and what we choose, questioning how identity is shaped through passion, belonging, and commitment.
Conceived as a photobook, the project combines direct portraits with moments of action, balancing intimacy and intensity. Ultimately, while the project speaks about cowboys in Belgium, it reflects on a broader, universal question: how we define ourselves in a world where movement, migration, and reinvention are increasingly part of contemporary life.
About Charly
Charly García is a documentary photographer whose work explores identity as an ongoing and evolving process. Rather than seeing identity as fixed, he approaches it as something shaped by origin, context, displacement, and personal choice. Through photography, he observes how these layers intersect and reveal themselves in everyday life.
Originally from Madrid and now based in Belgium, living abroad has deeply influenced his perspective. Working within a documentary approach with a strong authorial voice, he focuses on people, gestures, rituals, and spaces where individuals feel free to be themselves, creating images grounded in proximity, trust, and lived experience.
To see more of his work, visit his website or follow him on Instagram
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