Natalie Keyssar

©Natalie Keyssar

By Natalie Keyssar

I shot this while working on a story about Venezuela’s stunt motorcycle culture in December of ‘21. Ive been working in Venezuela on and off since 2014 mostly covering civil unrest and the personal effects of the crisis there, and for 7 years I dreamed of working with “Motopiruetas”. The motorcycle in Venezuela is this omnipresent symbol of freedom for the working class that’s also often (problematically) equated with criminality, and digging into working with a crew of some of the best riders in Caracas was one of the most joyful, crazy months of my life. On Sunday evenings they get together on a hilltop in the barrio of Petare to practice and listen to soundcars and in this picture a rider was getting ready to do a trick with a young girl sitting in his lap. It was a quiet moment compared to the action shots but there was this blissful trusting world falls away intimacy to it that for me captured the feeling of riding on a bike and putting your trust in the driver and knowing you’re about to do something insane and knowing you’re gonna be fine. I kind of see it as a love story in one frame.