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Cyclist Barnaby Wickham has collected more than 700 lost hubcaps, mostly on bike rides around Baltimore. They have inspired a quest to turn litter into art, including Christmas wreaths, a giant fish, and a large head of Snoopy.
It is a hobby that developed nearly two years ago from his love of cycling and the joy of making something out of the junk he has collected.
“I think it’s sort of the excitement of the hunt, for one thing,” Wickham said. “I love to cycle. I love Baltimore. I love to go out in Baltimore, and there’s just enough hubcaps and other things like car grilles to be interesting, but not so many that it’s too easy.”
Wickham, 54, says he can’t quite explain it, but one day while cycling in early 2024, he decided to bring home a lost hubcap. Since then, he has started stringing hubcaps he comes across to his backpack. “I keep track of them, and I have a Google map,” he said. “I pin locations where I find each of them.”
Others in his community who have taken an interest in his projects let him know when they see hubcaps by the road. Now, Wickham keeps a list of them that he refers to as “hubcaps in the wild.” He wants to do the collecting himself. That is part of the joy.
Wickham also gets a hand from his wife, Kate, who helps hold materials during construction and offers opinions. “I’m just support team, and occasionally the cautious person who says, you can’t drive on this road, you can’t bike on this road, or whatever. So I’m just more kind of supporting his love of trying new things,” she said.
It might seem like an odd pastime, but Baltimore has been known to celebrate its quirky side. The city is known for director John Waters, whose offbeat films earned him the moniker of the “Pope of Trash.” Baltimore is also home to the American Visionary Art Museum, which is nationally recognized as a repository for the work of self-taught artists and intuitive art.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.