Ezy Riding at Harley-Davidson Museum’s New Exhibit

by

Visual Arts

As long ago as 1920, an African American man opened a Harley-Davidson dealership in New York. Like many other chapters in U.S. history, Black participation in the motorcycle culture tended to be marginalized in most accounts, at least until recently.

Photographer Cate Dingley’s book Ezy Ryders focuses on New York City’s Black riding culture today. Images and text from her book have been chosen for the new exhibition at the Harley-Davidson Museum, “Ezy Ryders: History & Tradition, Heart & Soul.”

According to the exhibit’s curator, Ann Sinfield, Dingley’s book was the patient work of many years. A photojournalist living in New York, she began exploring the city’s Black rider culture in 2014. “She gained their trust, she got to know them,” Sinfield says. “She became known as the Camera Lady. For her, it was like prospecting,” Sinfield continues, referring to the process of gaining admission to a motorcycle club. “It can take a long time before you’re invited to join.”

Aside from the introduction by storyteller Jimmy Briggs, the text was assembled entirely from Dingley’s interviews with Black riders. “There were many amazing stories,” Sinfield says, and working with Dingley, she chose several of the photographer’s subjects—all of them going by their rider names—for display along one of the museum’s long corridors.

The riding culture isn’t a monolith, and neither are Black riders. Take Church Lady, who learned to ride a motorcycle in her 60s on her birthday because it’s never too late to try something new. Or King Midas, a veteran addressing PTSD through finding calm and community in riding. Or Brown Sugar, who started a club for chopper enthusiasts. Preach got his name from his passion for sharing his love for riding. Priest had a troubled life but worked through his difficulties on the back of a motorcycle, finding brotherhood and sisterhood. And then there are Skip and Blaze, an NYPD officer and a New Yorker City firefighter, whose clubs fundraise for local organizations, hold barbeques and engage with the communities they serve.

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All of Dingley’s photographs are in black and white. “There’s a sense of timelessness to them, black and white can be a very expressive medium,” Sinfield says.

“Ezy Ryders: History & Tradition, Heart & Soul” opens on Saturday, Nov. 23.