bous a la mar

bous a la mar (bulls to the sea) is a popular spectacle held during the "Fiesta mayor", a week long festival in Dénia, Spain, to honour the Santisima Sangre (Holy Blood). Several bulls and/or sometimes cows are forced to run down the main street Marqués de Campo into a makeshift arena that opens to the harbour on one side. here men (women not allowed into the arena) try to lure the bulls into the water using plastic toys, sticks, flags or instinct. if the animals can avoid that, they are released from the arena under applause and the next one is led in. crowd is waiting, sweets and drinks are being sold. injuries happen. on both sides. animals keep their dignity, which can not always be said of the audience, both those in the arena and those watching...

Dorothee Rapp is an award winning fine art photographer living in the northwest of germany working almost exclusively in black and white.