Roller Derby is an entire sub-culture. Enthusiasts blend right in when they’re not competing. Your co-worker. Your kid’s teacher. You’d never know.

Derby day: They arrive with gym bags and wearing the clothes they wore to their day jobs. Then, they transform themselves into their alter egos. Maggie Murder. Scary Poppins. Cruella de Wheel. Knee pads over fishnet stockings. Fierce faces on helmets.

But… what comes through the most for me in these environmental portraits is the heart and courage happening in them, and the love and respect the competitors have for each other.

What you’ll see in this collection is people giving themselves permission to take up space, be rough, try to win, to fall hard, to sweat without apology, and pick themselves back up. But you’ll also see them picking up each other.

Whatever color helmet is being worn, this is one group of people caring about each other, celebrating each other, and recognizing that they’re all really on the same team.

The bruises fade. The community doesn’t.