WOMEN ON THE ROAD : Rewriting Travel in Poetry and Photographs

ELIZABETH BRADFIELD, RACHEL ELIZA GRIFFITHS, & TESS TAYLOR in ORION Magazine

For a lot of its history, the “road trip” has conjured predominantly white, straight, masculine images (see literature from Homer to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to Jack Kerouac), but of course, that’s never been true. Women have always voyaged, whether to follow seasonal resources, relocate or migrate, work to make a better life, or to make art and dream. The road is also one of our homes.

It’s also true that “the road” may feel different to us, as women, and to each of us, individually. Gender, class, race, and sexuality complicate the myth of the “freedom of the open road”; though in that complication, fascinating connections blossom, too. Travel raises questions: How do we engage the unfamiliar? How does the unfamiliar engage us? What are our responsibilities as travelers? What wrongs, silences, and absences must we work against and speak into? What are we missing? FOR MORE

Photo Credit: Yannic Laderach