Lowrider car culture takes summer spotlight in New Mexico

The celebration kicked off Sunday when more than 100 lowriders cruised into one of the state's most historic plazas in the heart of Santa Fe.

The cars have become rolling works of art and symbols of Hispanic cultural identity.

Ware spent more than a year helping to pull together a collection of photographs, sculptures, paintings and videos highlighting the lowrider lifestyle and its connection with religion and community.

In one corner is a scale that's used to gauge how high a car can hop, the term used to describe the front end bouncing off the ground, triggered by a custom hydraulic lift system.

Daniel Kosharek, the photo curator at the history museum, said there are people who use cars just for transportation and then there are those who use the cars for self-expression.

Lowriders can come in any flavor, from the classic bombs made between 1930 and 1955 to hoppers that are outfitted with suspension systems that have evolved into high-tech rigs from the earliest days when sand bags were used to weigh down a car to get it closer to the ground.

At the celebration kick-off, cars circled the plaza, some flipped their switches, boosting one wheel off the ground while the rear of the car squatted and twisted.

The spokes spun slowly, the slower the better as the crowd soaked in all the chrome and glistening metal-flake paint.