HAMMER!. Barbara Hammer

1973. Women’s Music Festival, Sunny Valley, Oregon. Once back in the States, we discovered a whole women’s world had blossomed while we were teaching overseas. Sitting and lying on my BMW we look pretty content.

      PHOTO: RUTH MOUNTAINGROVE.

      I Was/I Am (16 mm, 1973).

      The films of Maya Deren (1917–61) opened a door for me as a young artist. I referenced her film Meshes of the Afternoon (1945) in my first 16 mm film. I transition from a princess with a white gown and tiara into a motorcycle dyke wearing leather. By now I had my own bike, a 750cc white BMW, which I bought in Germany, had flown to Philadelphia, and drove across the US with my first woman lover, Marie, who had her own 650cc black BMW.