CAM Presents: A Two-Wheeled Revolution

Thursday, April 3, 2025 from 7–8 p.m. 

Tickets required. Ticket sales will open one month before the event. 
Members: Free
General Public: $10 
Students: $5

Bicycles embody a universal purpose: egalitarian, unfettered mobility. They have inspired adventure, urban planning, fashion, design, sport, and even social justice. A century after suffragettes in the US and UK fought for their equal rights on bicycles, Afghan women sparked a revolution on two wheels. 

Join speaker Shannon Galpin, former National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and trainer of the first Afghan Women's National Cycling team, for an exploration of social change through cycling. She’ll share her experiences mountain biking in Afghanistan and riding alongside Afghan women who defied gender barriers and taboos. Despite open threats, harassment, and dishonor, these women rode in protest for equality, climate justice, and political action. Their story is one piece of Afghanistan's vibrant and defiant youth culture rarely discussed. 

About the speaker: 
Shannon Galpin is a human rights activist, artist, author, and filmmaker. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and Explorer's Club and a former National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. In 2009, Shannon became the first person to mountain bike in Afghanistan. She continued to travel through Afghanistan by bike for several years, using the bike as a tool to explore gender barriers. She supported and trained the first Afghan Women's National Cycling team and helped build and support the burgeoning “right to ride” movement in Afghanistan, which expanded across multiple provinces with women's teams and clubs and the first women's races in the country's history. She is a producer of the documentary film Afghan Cycles. The International Olympic Committee awarded Shannon an Honorary Achievement Diploma for promoting gender equity through sports.   

Shannon focuses her artwork through the lens of social justice, using the mediums of wheat paste, murals, and installation art. She has created public art installations in Afghanistan, France, England, and throughout the United States. She has authored two books, including her memoir Mountain to Mountain and the book documenting the first collaborative public art installation in Afghanistan, Streets of Afghanistan.  

image credit: Bronco Style Pneumatic Safety, 1891, once-known maker, steel with leather saddle, Bicycle Museum of America, New Bremen, Ohio

If you need accessibility accommodations, please contact us in advance at [email protected] or fill out the accessibility request form.