What a cool project.

Stan Engelbrecht and Nic Grobler spent two years traveling around South Africa interviewing South Africans about bicycles and collecting their stories. By the end, the project turned into “a portrait of a nation through the bicycles that they own and ride every day – revealing all manner of social, class, historical and cultural nuances never imagined”.

I might have to get my hands on one of these books when they are published. I bet they are beautiful in print–especially the hand-painted watercolor maps showing where each portrait was taken. Make sure to check out some of the individual interviews done with bicyclists Bicycle Portraits has on their vimeo stream as well, they are all pretty sweet!