NAKED BIKE: HELMET KALEIDOSCOPE (2017)

‘Helmet Kaleidoscope’ 60 × 84 inches, photo collage,

I was asked by Katie McKay, publisher of Modern Moto Magazine, to contribute to the May 2017 issue. It was February, a New York City winter—the deadline was March, and most riders weren’t on the road. I decided to focus on gear, specifically helmets.

I invited women riders into my Brooklyn studio to photograph them with their own helmets and jackets, objects that once masked identity and were built for men. When I started riding in the ’80s, women were cast as passengers, not riders. As our numbers grew, so did the demand for gear that fit and represented us—numbers move that dial.

What shifted for me was seeing these surfaces not just as protective, but as expressive—sites where identity is constructed and seen. The work moved from a planned grid to a kaleidoscope: individuality multiplied, fragmented, and in motion, a collective portrait of women riders claiming space on their own terms.