With this necklace, I speak to my experiences bicycling. The rubber of the inner tubes, not a material thought of as female, but I make them into ruffles and fringe.  Inner-tubes certainly not to be worn around someone’s neck. The title is For all those times my face hit the pavement while looking at the sun through the trees, how very un-ladylike. I am once again giving a female voice to materials that are thought of as masculine. Thus, I feminize them, in my labor. And as I think of myself bicycling, I also am made to think of the first feminists, who also saw the bicycle as a newfound freedom for women, so that they may leave their kitchens and babes. An idea that was met with resistance.

Bicycles were considered masculine, up until the 1890s because they could not be ridden side-saddle, thus may ruin a woman’s virtue. In 1896, women adopted them as their own, as the bicycle gave them new freedom of movement, and also allowed them to wear less restrictive clothing that aided in that movement, this was not without it many male critiques.

From the beginning, bicycles have been associated with feminism. The Suffragettes also associated the freedom that came to women through bicycling, as being the catalyst that allotted women’s suffrage to be successful.

Materials:

Bicycle Inner-tubes, Fold Formed Brass, Brass 22G wire, Brass 14G wire jump-rings & Closure, Forged Steel Display

Modeled by: Carolina Alamilla

2018