The Problem Horse:

Petshop Gallery presents a new project by visual artist Rachel Cox. Composed of entirely appropriated and sourced photographs from Cox’s own collection, The Problem Horse is an interactive image + text installation offering contemporary interpretations of the practice of horse breaking.

About the Artist:

Rachel Cox is an artist and educator with a deep commitment to crafting image-based works of art which challenge cultural and social conventions pertaining to reproduction and care. Cox holds an MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico. Her work has been featured widely in the U.S. and abroad with recent exhibitions at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, the National Portrait Gallery, the Joslyn Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, and the Des Moines Art Center. Cox’s projects have been recognized with numerous awards including an Iowa Arts Project Grant, the 2024 Visionary Project Award through Film Photo & Kodak, a Puffin Grant, and was selected for the 2025 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, hosted and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.

Cox’s prints are included in the collections of The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Des Moines Arts Center, The Southeast Museum of Photography, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, The Musee de l’Elysee, and The University of North Texas Special Collections. Rachel Cox currently lives in Iowa City, IA where she is an Associate Professor of Photography at The University of Iowa.