Ride or Die

Abstract

Ride or Die is a body of work commissioned by BRIC in 2017, featuring sculptures of customized vintage Schwinn bicycles that commemorate the traditions of Puerto Rican bike clubs in New York. Through the use of vintage bicycles and historic ephemera, signature features such as bike color and year of production become symbolic touchstones in representing Puerto Rican politics and migration histories. This body of work, produced at the centennial mark of US citizenship for Puerto Ricans (1917–2017), questions the colonial relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico while exploring the current economic and political crisis on the island and its implications for the diaspora.Made from the frames of two 1952 Schwinn Phantom bicycles, this work commemorates the year of Puerto Rico’s constitution and the beginning of its commonwealth status. Red is emblematic of the Partido Popular Democrático (the Popular Democratic Party, which supports maintaining the political status quo). Unable to move forward in either direction without also going backward, Double-Phantom / Entro-P.R. embodies the current state of political dysfunction in Puerto Rico and the paradox of its colonial relationship with the United States. Despite this paradox, the neon message in the background—“Pa’lante”—insists on moving forward.Estadista (Satehood’er) questions what it means for Puerto Rico to aspire toward statehood, particularly in this new political era with a US administration that appointed white supremacists to its cabinet and emboldened racist platforms. This bicycle was originally made in 1968, a year of racial violence and widespread civil unrest and protest in the United States. During the same year, a California-based bicycle company (Bill Mathews Co.) produced the “hangman sissybar” as an accessory for children’s bicycles. It was also in 1968 that Puerto Rico elected its first pro-statehood governor.This 1969 green Schwinn Runabout references Puerto Rico’s proindependence party, the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño. Here the Puerto Rican flag merges with the pan-African flag, reimagining Puerto Rico’s struggle and quest for independence in an Afro-Caribbean historical and cultural framework as well as in connection with black liberation movements in the United States. A chrome-plated machete hangs from the seat of the bike—a historic symbol of labor and resistance in Puerto Rico’s independence movement.This Schwinn Hornet dates to 1951, the year before the island became a commonwealth territory. ’51 also references the number of states in the United States if Puerto Rico were to be annexed. In response to the current economic crisis, the Puerto Rican flag is presented in black and white, evoking historic associations with Puerto Rico’s pro-independence Nationalist Party and transforming it from a flag of mourning to a flag of protest.