Statement
Bike Polo is played around the world by people of all shapes, sizes, ages, genders, and dispositions. Players assemble their rides from mountain bikes, track bikes, road bikes, foldable bikes, and everything in between, using old parts and new inventions in search of the perfect polo machine. Mallets are fashioned from ski poles, hockey sticks, golf clubs, or whatever else is available. Players are bike messenger, cartographers, designers, artists, engineers, teachers, and luthiers. Despite the diversity of equipment and life experience, the Do-It-Yourself attitude and obsessive love of the sport bonds players together. As the popularity of the sport has grown, so has the community around it.
The images here include portraits taken of players from around the world and photographs taken by bike polo players representing their experiences with the sport. They illustrate some differences, but remarkably speak a common language even though taken at different times, in different places, by different photographers.
The portraits also seek to highlight both the differences and the similarities of polo players around the world. These images were taken and collected as part of a M.A. thesis project examining how photography and community interplay - specifically how photography can be used to discuss community identity.
