Open Theme nominee

Series Description:

This past summer during our stay in Scotland I heard about the movement started in the late 1800's warning women that bicycle riding would lead to a deformity called "bicycle face". Credit was claimed by a male doctor in London and discredited 2 years later by a female doctor in Chicago. The beginning of the movement centered around the fear surrounding women gaining independence. It also lead to changes in women's clothing styles replacing cumbersome skirts with bloomers, etc. Women from the this time who you may know (Susan B Anthony, Ida Bell, Elizabeth Cade Stanton) wisely pointed out the benefits of fresh air and exercise. Although started by a man, I believe that there were some disapproving women also. Long story short, IT DIDN'T WORK. The ladies kept riding, the styles changed, and there are no known cases of "bicycle face". I was in Scotland when I started this series. My good friend and artist, Helen Joy, agreed to make the masks from the descriptions I had read. Puffed face, flushed cheeks, pouty lips, etc. This series includes lades from UK and US. What you can't see are the smiles behind the masks! Way to go, Ladies!!

In my lifetime I have been daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, empty nester, great grandmother, widow and partner. Never in those years did I take photographs (except for family memories). 7 years ago my partner gave me a camera and I began learning how
to tell the stories that have rattled around in my mind for years..
I have had my work displayed at the Mediterranean House of Photography in
Barcelona and twice in Paris. (State of the World and Der Greif) . Also I have been published in the
Fotonostrum magazine and the recently published Der Greif Magazine Issue 16. Also I have been so
very honored and pleased to have been an Official Selection in the 2023 London Creative, 2 Bronze
awards in the Rise Awards, Overall Non Professional winner in the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, 3rd place and honorable mention in Monochrome Awards, Bronze and Silver in Budapest Awards 2022, short listed Siena Creative 23 and 23, Merit Award in the Fotonostrum Portrait Awards, honorable mentions in the IPA Awards, Silver award in Children in the Pollux Awards, Curators Selection in the State of the World Px3 Awards 2022, short listed State of the World 2023.