You have probably seen vehicles around your town smothered in decals and bumper stickers, each proclaiming one ideology or another, sometimes giving information about places in the world to which the owners have traveled. Military folks appear at airports in uniforms bristling with service ribbons, medals and rank insignias. Occasionally one sees members of this or that religious sect in public; their hair styles and garments give outward expression to their view of the world. You are left in no doubt about the political beliefs, sociological attitudes and opinions of all these individuals

I took this picture on a street in Kentucky, USA. The subject is Herman, riding shotgun position behind his leather-bound buddy. Herman is a man of precisely calibrated stimuli, from the flag above his head to the look of disdain on his face, from his chewed-up Harley Davidson cap all the way down to his camouflage trousers. He tells us via a patch on his vest: “THESE ARE MY CHURCH CLOTHES,” meaning I imagine that his motorcycle persona is part of his religious worship. He is a “BOARD MEMBER,” of what committee we cannot be sure. Most revealing I think is the message over Herman’s heart:

AMERICAN BY BIRTH

SOUTHERN BY THE

GRACE OF GOD