For Nayquan Shuler, documenting South Carolina’s Atlantic Beach Bike Festival (Black Bike Week) in Myrtle Beach is as much an act of cultural preservation as it is an exploration of home. The photographer has always been one degree away from its rich history, thanks to anecdotes from his uncles and cousins who would attend. Now, experiencing it for the first time, and describing it as a “rite of passage,” he shows us the flair and style of 2023’s edition and its binding community spirit in Kings Highway.

Coming to photography during the blog era, Nayquan got much inspiration from the online sphere, as opposed to his surroundings in Columbia, just two hours away from Myrtle Beach. “I was influenced by Madbury Club, Street Etiquette, and Tumblr. It made me curious about travelling and photography, which eventually pushed me to start documenting the people and things around me.” Similarly, before starting on Kings Highway, Nayquan was scouring Facebook before stumbling across the Black Bike Week group, and learning about the week’s series of events. “The first day was tough because it was raining and a lot of people decided to leave early,” he tells us. Soon hearing about a parking garage party nearby, he instead decided to start the project there, making way for documentations of their memorabilia and costume.