B.L.B.C.N.Y (SIGNED, LTD EDT)

Julie Glassberg
B.L.B.C.N.Y (SIGNED, LTD EDT)

Photographs: Julie Glassberg

Text: Donna Ferrato

Publisher: Serious Publishing

166 pages

Year: 2023

ISBN: 9782363200399

Price: 50 €

Comments: Softcover, 22,6 x 17,3 cm, b&w photographs. Second edition after the publication of Ceiba in 2018. Limited edition of 500.

In the heart of Brooklyn, photographer Julie Glassberg shared the daily life of a club of hardcore and committed cyclists, the Black Label Bike Club. In their HQ, a squatted building, they share a family life and live for their common passions: bike rides, jousts, organised or improvised parties. After meeting them purely by chance, Julie was able to gain their trust, and over a period of three years shared some of their most memorable moments to bring back these unique images.

"I’ve always been into subcultures and underground scenes. I am fascinated and inspired by people who do not follow the mold society has built for us. To me, we are pushed to evolve in a certain manner – get a job, have a family (heteronormative preferred), get a house, a car, a TV, consume, obey rules – and if we actually reject that mold and want to do things differently, well, obstacles tend to show as it becomes disturbing. For this reason, I really respect people who have the guts and courage to still do it and stick to their believes and passions, who don’t care if it will disturb or not or even break the rules. In reality, it only disturbs the minds that are used or conditioned to a certain way of thinking, that is all.

When I was in NYC, I started documenting a different subculture but the story didn’t really develop for various reasons. Later, a roommate in Alphabet City mentioned to me the BLBC. He didn’t know them personally, but had seen them ride their tall-bikes around there or in Brooklyn. I started doing some research and got really intrigued. There was also a movie from the early 2000’s called B.I.K.E portraying the club. This all made me want to know more and I started looking for them. It took about three months before I was standing in the kitchen of the Chicken Hut taking my first photographs during Paul’s birthday."

- Julie Glassberg

"The pictures are so evocative of lust they make me swoon."

- Donna Ferrato