Motorcycles are the mode of choice to get around in Medellín, Colombia. In the working-class districts that climb the steep slopes of the Valle de Aburrá, residents have self-built elaborate…

Motorcycles are the mode of choice to get around in Medellín, Colombia. In the working-class districts that climb the steep slopes of the Valle de Aburrá, residents have self-built elaborate neighborhoods outside of formal urban planning. While humans can walk up steps, wheeled vehicles require ramps. From the basic need to wheel your bike inside at night, a vast assortment of small ramps has emerged. These ramps possess a sculptural and expressive quality, and constitute a kind of folk brutalism. Rampitas is a small study of and appreciation for these forms that tell so much about the conditions – social, economic, and topographical – that defined the struggles and lives of the people who built them.