Not translatable to the English language, saudade is the core of Camila’s photographs. It’s the love that remains, not quite as deep as grief or as subtle as missing someone. It can exist for something that has passed or it can be the yearning for something that hasn’t happened, and might never exist. Change being the only constant state we live in, if nostalgia met poignant at a bar, in the hometown poignant grew up in, on the street where nostalgia’s ex used to live and they had a one night stand without protection… Saudade would have been born. English speakers can’t translate it, but they certainly feel it, as all humans do. 

A quick waxing session turns into a nightmare when a Brazilian accidentally gets a brazilian.

Password: Sofia

The idea behind queer bikers started in 2023. I have been a rider all my life, but during a sunny summer day in July that year I pulled up to a stop sign in Highlandtown, next to me, on the sidewalk a young girl on her bicycle got very excited to see me. She had one of those bicycles that allows you to rev your bike like a motorcycle. She did it, then asked me to do it. I did, she cheered, her parents clapped. At that moment I was reminded of something I have always believed in: representation matters. A month later I went to Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and there, I was reminded that not all motorcycle spaces were safe for women and/or queer people. 

I came home and I began researching for photo books, movies, anything that really displayed queer bikers. I came across only one book that displayed white gay male bikers. Then I made a facebook post in the winter on a lesbian motorcycle riding group and received 160 replies in two hours. I began conversing with these women, learning about their stories in relation to riding, and they introduced me to queer riding groups and organizations. 

By building a photo series surrounding queer bikers, I hope to create an empathetic portrait of our lived experiences at a time when the LGBTQ+ community is being targeted more than ever in recent history. This project will not only display their images, but their voices as well, as they share why they began riding to begin with. With that, queer bikers will employ cultural specificity to a universal riding culture that will hopefully resonate with diverse audiences.