Ride Or Die


  • Photographer
    Maya Smira
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    2014

A semi-autobiographical photo series, that document the phenomenon of the new hippies in California at the 21st millennium. Young people coming from good families across the United States, retire from American popular mainstream culture in an attempt to get closer to nature, and to live differently. They prefer to settle at the margins of society, and produce different subcultures and lifestyle. In This series I documented Kai, a cannabis farmer in his daily life, who was shot dead during a robbery in 2014, shortly after these pictures were taken. This series is a tribute to his memory.

Story

A semi-autobiographical photo series, that opens a window to the phenomenon of the new hippies in California at the 21st millennium. In the remote and wild south and north of the California, a new generation of "flower children" is growing, also called hippies or “pirates”. Young people coming from good families across the United States, retire from American popular mainstream culture in an attempt to get closer to nature, and to live differently. They prefer to settle at the margins of society, and produce different subcultures and lifestyle. Escaping from capitalist ideals, they prefer life with less work and commitment, and more escapism, travel adventures, festivals, music, sex and drugs.
In This series I documented Kai, a cannabis farmer, an individual that is representing this state of mind during his daily life. Kai was shot dead during a robbery in Dec 2014, shortly after these pictures were taken. This series is a tribute to his memory.

"Find me in the hills where we bury the pills and disappear in the sand. Revolvers in hands, revolutionaries at heart. Live for the moment. Risk life for the gold, but we shall not sell our souls. Brave hearts and smoke in our lungs. Outlaw till we die. High shall I sail on open water, sailing upwards in the pursuit of infinity bliss.
This moment belongs to the Pirate, and he does not look back." Kai (1988-2014)

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