By photographing women with their beloved cars, I want to delve into vintage Volkswagens as an emblem of empowerment for women, as symbols of individuality and personal mobility.

 

Despite Volkswagen’s origins in 1930s Germany, the original Volkswagen Beetle — designed by Ferdinand Porsche as “the people’s car” — went on to become a beloved cultural icon and the most mass produced single-make of car, surpassing even Ford’s Model T. The original Beetle was designed with an air-cooled engine so it could be parked outside in German winters without freezing. Air-cooled engines also appeared in Karmann Ghias, Transporters, Things, Squarebacks and more.

 

As parameters for this project, I am using air-cooled engines to define an era of classic Volkswagens from roughly the 1950s to the late 1980s.