This project documents a small community of skaters in a proportionally small Flemish village. It is my first effort in conveying the unique and expressive nature of skateboarding. Often mislabeled as an aggressive and vandalizing sport by the general public, none of those words are justified, let alone correct.
I was accepted into this culture, despite not partaking in most of the habits and ideologies associated with skateboarding. Your political beliefs, skin colour or habits outside of skateboarding simply don’t matter. Outcasts from all corners of society come together without complication or prejudice and I document skateboarding in black and white to reflect this.
Stripping my images of colour reflects the way it strips you of your social status, history and beliefs. The precise control needed to perform even the simplest trick takes years of dedication, mountains of resilience and vast reserves of both physical and mental stamina. Combined with the complete lack of doctrine, skateboarding is closer to art than other sports. Rebels at heart, skateboarders continuously break their own status quo in new and innovative ways. It can be done any- and everywhere and everyone has their own highly personal style.
But it was not the lack of prejudice nor the art-like nature of skateboarding that surprised me the most throughout the years. Documenting and partaking in skateboarding revealed its therapeutic power. I’ve seen people previously lost in bad habits and practices turn their lives around. I’ve seen people trade crime for skateboarding, misery for happiness, depression for passion and solitude for family. Souls spat out by society when they fail to conform to its standards become part of a community that truly does not care.
Skateboarding saves lives, a statement often passed amongst skateboarders, which proved to be alarmingly accurate.
I was accepted into this culture, despite not partaking in most of the habits and ideologies associated with skateboarding. Your political beliefs, skin colour or habits outside of skateboarding simply don’t matter. Outcasts from all corners of society come together without complication or prejudice and I document skateboarding in black and white to reflect this.
Stripping my images of colour reflects the way it strips you of your social status, history and beliefs. The precise control needed to perform even the simplest trick takes years of dedication, mountains of resilience and vast reserves of both physical and mental stamina. Combined with the complete lack of doctrine, skateboarding is closer to art than other sports. Rebels at heart, skateboarders continuously break their own status quo in new and innovative ways. It can be done any- and everywhere and everyone has their own highly personal style.
But it was not the lack of prejudice nor the art-like nature of skateboarding that surprised me the most throughout the years. Documenting and partaking in skateboarding revealed its therapeutic power. I’ve seen people previously lost in bad habits and practices turn their lives around. I’ve seen people trade crime for skateboarding, misery for happiness, depression for passion and solitude for family. Souls spat out by society when they fail to conform to its standards become part of a community that truly does not care.
Skateboarding saves lives, a statement often passed amongst skateboarders, which proved to be alarmingly accurate.
