In partnership with Uber Freight, the photo collection Sisters of the Road by photographer Anne Marie Michel begins its U.S. tour on Friday outside San Francisco, honoring the women’s trucking community for Women’s History Month.
Sisters of the Road dives into the lives of female truckers across the U.S., highlighting their struggles, industry improvements and the need for ongoing progress. Michel found inspiration in the resilience and independence of these women. Her interest was sparked by her mother’s journey post-divorce, driving Michel and her sisters across the country. The book’s subjects advocate for equity measures such as attractive salaries for female trainers and same-sex training options, aiming to foster a more inclusive industry.
The collection will make its way across the country and be displayed in an Uber Freight trailer provided by the company’s Powerloop offering.
After Friday, the gallery will be picked up by trucker Deb Desiderato, who was also featured in the series, and will make its way to three stops throughout March with a convoy of women drivers trailing along.
“Deb will be hauling the semitruck and the gallery is inside of it. In the actual book, there is 40 women, their stories and the landscapes that they travel through. The gallery inside the semitruck will showcase eight metal prints of the 40 in the book,” said Michel.
The first stop will be in Houston on March 8 for International Women’s Day at the international photography festival FotoFest. Next up, the convoy will roll into Little Rock, Arkansas, on March 17, making a special stop at Idella Hansen’s Petro Truck Stop. Hansen is a highlighted driver in the collection. The convoy will conclude its journey at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in Louisville, Kentucky from March 21-23.
“I think its really cool what [Michel] is doing. I know some of the other women in the book, like Idella, who has been trucking for 57 years. She is my trucking hero. She’s never going to quit and I hope I never quit either,” Desiderato said,
Desiderato said she is also excited to be followed by a convoy of women truckers, who will all be sporting yellow gold bandannas throughout the trip.
“We are actually starting the tour in Point Richmond [a city just outside San Fransico] which is where the Rosie the Riveter Memorial is. She is a cultural icon of women trailblazers in male-dominated industries. We have yellow gold bandannas, which match Rosie’s iconic bandanna and the color of the book and the truck. We will be handing them out along the tour and at MATS as a sign of solidarity and sisterhood among trucker women,” said Michel.
Uber Freight and the Powerloop team will assist women drivers interested in joining the convoy in finding loads that will let them link up with the group during the entire tour.
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