Take a look at skateboarding from a new angle, through a new lens, with a fresh perspective. This is the world of women’s skateboarding captured by the women who live it and breathe it.
Issue 1 // 2016
Curve, New Mexico, 2012. Sarah Meurle
Maria Lima, Copenhagen, 2012. Sarah Meurle
Marie Dabbadie Born in Bayonne, raised in Hossegor and currently living in Malmö, while working in Copenhagen, Marie has experienced the ‘skate life’ in many European cities. In 2013 she completed a personal project called Crossborder where she spent 7 months traveling Europe, documenting the female skateboarders she met along the way. You’ve traveled a lot and photographed skateboarding all across Europe. Which cities have the strongest women’s skate scenes? Have you noticed much of a difference between the places you’ve been? I think this is an always changing thing. I remember the FlipA video of the girls in Barcelona released in 2010, that was quite a big deal; I mean there are so many girls skating in that video but now Barcelona’s scene is totally different. The UK has always been pretty big to me thanks to Jenna Selby’s videos and photos and it’s getting even bigger right now with the cool girlskateuk.com sharing good content and showing a lot of variety in the skating they are publishing. That’s probably attractive to girls that wanna start and girls that already skated for years, which is a real good achievement.
Every place seems to be different from another and this is a day-to-day thing. Which European cities do you think offer more opportunities for female skateboarders? Many cities in Europe are beginning to be more open about female skateboarding. I can mention Tösabidarna, now that I am here in Malmö. They are offering two girls-only sessions a week and free skate classes during school holidays which is good for girls to get out there and skate without fear. This is cool, but I also see some girls getting out there and creating their own opportunities which I consider even cooler! I think that the opportunities are everywhere, they just need to be taken – any city or street has something to skate to offer.
Lisa Jacob, nollie heel, Spain. Marie Dabbadie
ChloĂŠ Bernard, Marseille. Marie Dabbadie
Maria Lima, BS Crook, Copenhagen. Marie Dabbadie
Maria Lima, Hamburg. Marie Dabbadie
Nicoline Egeberg & Maria Lima, Copenhagen. Marie Dabbadie
Lisa Jacob, desert cruise, Spain. Marie Dabbadie
You’re a skateboarder and a photographer, which one came first? They kind of synchronized. I always liked to capture everything I did or felt, the places I saw and the people I met. Now they clearly complete each other. What’s your favourite photo that you’ve shot? This is really hard... but I’ll pick one of them. It’s an analogue photo of Anthony Mura skating a DIY bowl in Lolo’s garden, lost in the vineyards around Bordeaux. I love this moment – Gauthier is cheering behind and the other guys are chilling in the back. That was when I was still living in Bordeaux and skating with these amazing Black Bowl Battalion guys (look it up!). What’s in your camera bag? I don’t really use a camera bag, it’s more of a bag of mixed stuff with my camera inside a beanie. I always
have a notebook and one or two black pens, the book I’m reading at the moment, a music player, some cigarette filters that jumped out my pack, films and an ID. What advice would you give to other females thinking about shooting skate photos? Everyone should do it, I think everyone can take photos because everyone is seeing beautiful things when skateboarding – inspiring people, grand architectural pieces, different landscapes, etc... The technique matters only if you want to make a job out of it or get published or if you are a tech-savvy perfectionist. Anyone can be a photographer with any kind of camera, from the matchbox to the latest Canon jewel. And don’t be afraid or lazy to get your camera out at any time.
Alana Smith, BS smith, Del Mar. Mimi Knoop
Nora Vasconcellos, nose blunt, Encinitas. Mimi Knoop
Nora Vasconcellos, boneless to disaster, Oceanside. Mimi Knoop
Sarah Meurle, BS 180 nosegrind, Bondi. Lisa Kindberg
A small community with a strong force Words and photos by Lisa Kindberg When you’re doing something for the first time, it can be scary. Skateboarding can be scary. When you go to the skatepark for the first time in your life where a whirlwind of experienced skaters are flying fast, back and forth, it is intimidating. If you are then a minority within this field and stand out, which you do as a girl, it takes a lot of courage to start skating the park, having all eyes on you. Going to the girls night at the skatepark when I started off skating as a shy 14 year old in Gothenburg, Sweden, was the perfect introduction to the skateboarding world. It helped me form friendships, and as I improved and became more confident riding a board, it was a good transition for me to enter the park to meet that whirlwind without getting blown away. After having tried most “normal sports” growing up, I realised that the pressure of being at a place at a certain time and having someone telling you what to do and how to do it, wasn’t for me. Skateboarding gives you the freedom to practise it whenever, however and wherever you want. When I started skating my mindset shifted from a focus on competition to a focus on growth, where I aimed to learn and become better than I was yesterday. I no longer felt that I had to be better than anyone else or that
my ability was to be judged by results and points. As much as it’s an individual activity that provides a lot of freedom, skateboarding also has a really strong community. As long as you have a board and a passion for riding it, you are accepted. As a teenager I went to the girls night at the skatepark every Tuesday night. It took me an hour to get there and it was a bit intimidating at first, but I was soon embraced by the open atmosphere and welcomed by the other girl skaters. There was always a lot of discussion from the guys about the girls night. They couldn’t understand why they were excluded for these three hours out of the week and thought it was unfair. This issue came up a lot – in online conversations, at skate parties or when you post a skate video – …“Girls skateboarding”… good or bad? Everybody seemed to have an opinion about it, mostly referring to the level of skating and the physical appearance of a girl skater. In the end you just feel like “Why don’t we all just skate and have fun? No matter which level you are on, isn’t that what skateboarding is all about?”. Girls night was a bit of an oasis where you could practise tricks at your own pace away from opinions and judgements.
Usually, the girls I met shared a lot of common interests outside of skateboarding. We would hang out and listen to music, talk about art and shoot photos. Photography was always an important tool as we wanted to capture the tricks we were doing. Skateboarding stimulates your creativity. Every skateboarder expresses themselves in individual ways as each one has a different style, sees different opportunities at spots, and does different tricks. It’s momentous, but if you film or photograph it, it will be captured forever. Skateboarding is an art form and capturing it on camera sees the creativity go full circle. The girl skaters I met were always a bit different, but in a good way. They were girls who didn’t fit the mould of a typical teenage girl. I think that’s why we all got along so well. I guess we felt much like male skaters did back in the day, back when they were considered outcasts. This really helped us connect as a community and made it easy to bond with other girls who skated. After all, we were all doing this activity that very few
girls were doing and that society felt was not a feminine thing to do. I think for that reason it was, and still is, very important for girls to connect with each other. I think it’s important for women in general, to stick together. Knowing there are more girls like you out there encourages you to keep on doing it. This doesn’t mean we didn’t skate or hangout with the boys, because we did, and a lot of my best friends who I skate with are guys. But a solid community of female skaters is a safety net and helps you feel like you’re a part of something. Although most of my favourite skaters are guys, when I see a girl doing tricks I get more inspired and encouraged and I think, “If she can do that, so can I!” The female skate scene in Scandinavia is very organised and all the girl skaters are keen on traveling, organising events and creating opportunities to skate together. Different groups developed – we had the “Westcoast Riders” where I was from and “Tösabidarna” down in Malmö, for example, and then an overall girls skateboarding
Esther Godoy, Monica Shaw, Sarah Meurle and Louisa Menke checking footage in Melbourne
Group photo with some of the Scandinavian female skateboarders
Helping the beginners at the Copenhagen Girls Skate Camp
organisation called “No Limit”. Having these groups and organisations made it easier to get funding and sponsorship for the camps and competitions we put together. By going to these events, we connected with girls from other cities. The more experienced girls helped the ones new to skateboarding. It was always nice when a girl who just started off one year, would keep riding and developing her skills and then come back the next year. All of a sudden, your world grew bigger and thanks to Facebook and such it was easy to stay in touch.
Menke. Thanks to the network of female skaters, we all managed to have a place to stay when we arrived in Melbourne, even though we didn’t know anyone directly. Just because we were part of the same community, and had a lot of friends in common, other girl skaters opened their door to us. This is one of the beautiful things about women’s skateboarding. The community is small, but it’s worldwide.
When I moved to Spain at 19 the way of skateboarding changed a bit. It was partly due to climate but also because the scene in Barcelona was very different from my home city. Barcelona is a mecca in skateboarding where skaters from all over the world pilgrimaged to skate the amazing architecture of the city. Macba, Parallel and Universitat became my second home. Street skating was on the menu, and that was what the majority of the skaters were into, including the girls. I met girls from all over the world who skateboarded. Almost everyday you went out on a skate mission and it was also what you spoke about at night. Being part of such a tight community definitely has it’s benefits and a skate sister in need, is a skate sister indeed. I witnessed the global mesh of the girls skate community when I first came to Australia with two other skateboarding girls, Sarah Meurle and Louisa
In women’s skateboarding we are the ones creating the scene and the opportunities. Whether it’s girls skate camps back in Scandinavia, a girls skateboarding tour in Morocco or a girls skate trip to India, the girls themselves are creating it and funding it, because the big brands can’t see the profit in it yet. As a result, girls skateboarding can sometimes be more interesting than mens because it is more underground and driven entirely out of passion and a genuine love for skateboarding and the culture. It’s all about creating, exploring and connecting. The world of women’s skateboarding has evolved since I was a teenager. As more girls band together and create more opportunities for themselves, we are finally seeing a shift in the industry. The half-naked girls that once featured in skate ads are slowly being replaced by real female skateboarders in action. The times are changing and it appears the future is bright for women’s skateboarding.
Izy Mutu, FS 5-0, Mallawa. Sarah Huston
Amanda France, drop in, Brisbane. Sarah Huston
Nam-Chi Van Scrolling through Nam-Chi’s Instagram while she’s in Oslo for the X Games I wonder whether she is going to meet the deadline for this interview with her busy schedule. But of course she does. Because it seems that when Nam-Chi does something, she does it well! A qualified software engineer and a successful photographer, Nam-Chi has shot some of skateboarding’s biggest events. You’ve shot some major competitions like X Games and Women’s Street League. How do you handle the pressure of photographing such globally renowned events? I’m not going to lie; it’s very nerveracking up to the day of the actual event. I think being able to shoot the women practising the course before the event helps a lot. It also helps to know what tricks each person is going to do during their run and how they skate. There will always be that pressure to get the shot, but in the end, it’s all about documenting history and having fun. I think we’re all very supportive of each other because we all know that we’re all in the same situation; whether we’re the ones organizing the event, covering it, or even the ones competing. When I first started, I didn’t really know anyone on a personal level, so it was intimidating to get in their space to get the
shot. I think you have to earn everyone’s trust and build a bond between you and person you’re shooting. How was it capturing the first ever Women’s Street League? What was the vibe like? Capturing the first ever Women’s Street League was unbelievable and so exciting. I remember standing on the course with Mimi Knoop, telling her, “Wow, I can’t believe that I’m here right now,” as she nodded her head in agreement with me. The vibes there were different than X Games. I feel like Street League is more of a skater’s contest since it’s run by skaters and for skaters. The community was strong. I’m excited for more events like this. It was cool to meet other women skaters in the industry from around the world (Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, etc) that traveled there to support women’s skateboarding.
Lizzie Armanto, finger flip lien tail, US Open 2014. Nam-Chi Van
How did you get the gig as a photographer for Mahfia.tv? When I lived in San Diego, I saved up for my dream camera set up. I wanted to be a skate filmer, so I hit up a bunch of different companies, but no one ever got back to me. After moving to the Bay Area, I started following a bunch of women’s skate companies (Meow, Hoopla, Silly, etc) and stumbled upon Mahfia.tv. I pretty much sent them the same, “Hey, I’m a skater / filmer / photographer” spiel. I didn’t really get any responses back so I kind of moved onto something else at the time. In 2011, I created Moshlounge, which was an online music publication, which got me into music and concert photography. About 6 months later, Kim Woo (founder of Mahfia), sent me an email telling me that she’d been following my work on Instagram and asked if I’d be down to fly out to Austin to shoot the Summer X Games. Of course I was stoked and said yes. That’s kind of where it all kicked off. What’s your favourite trick to shoot and why? Favorite trick… that’s a hard one. Flip tricks down stairs are always fun to capture. I would say the most difficult type of trick to capture would be any kind of handrail trick,
Samarria Brevard, 5-0, Chicago. Nam-Chi Van
Alexis Sablone & Lacey Baker, X Games 2014. Nam-Chi Van
because of the angles. Angles can make or break a photo. When I’m shooting vert skaters, it’s really fun to capture them when they are doing some gnarly grab right above my face. If you could have the chance to photograph any skateboarder, who would it be and why? I think it would be pretty sweet to photograph Andrew Reynolds because he’s always been an influential skater to me growing up. Where do you see the future of women’s skateboarding – particularly regarding media coverage and recognition? I see it blowing up within the next 5 years, especially with talks of skateboarding being in the Olympics. Skateboarding, in general, has already blown up internationally. It’s only a matter of time until it’ll be normal to see a woman or girl skating (if it isn’t already). It’s crazy nowadays because anyone can go out there and make it happen. For example, anyone can go out and film and edit or shoot some photos, post it online to all their social medias, and get easily recognized. I think the women’s skate industry is small, but I’d say we’re growing at a rapid pace. We’re basically out there creating our own media outlets and content.
Vanessa Torres, FS revert, Chicago. Nam-Chi Van
Spain, 2011. Louisa Menke
India, 2014. Louisa Menke
India, 2014. Louisa Menke
Maria Lima I get the sense that Maria appreciates the simple things in life, but she has a beautiful way of seeing beyond the simplicity. It’s not often that you see skateboarding documented in such a poetic and romantic way. Her photos invoke curiosity. And it was with this curiosity that I set out to uncover the motivation and inspiration behind her images. Your work leans towards capturing the lifestyle that surrounds the skate scene. What draws you to capture these moments instead of focusing on tricks? I just think that the moments in between doing tricks can be so beautiful. And I think these moments deserve to be remembered too. Skateboarding, for me at least, has been so much more than just “doing” it, covering so many aspects of my life, meant so many new friendships, new countries, new perspectives. I would almost say that the tricks are the least of it all. What inspires your photography? Life. Death. And everything in between.
What kind of moments do you like capturing the most? There is a moment. Where the distinction between exterior/ interior blurs, where what you see and what you feel knows no difference and becomes one and the same thing. It is a weird and happy and sad moment where time is passing and stopping at the same time. You feel like you are so present in that moment, because you feel like you are disappearing into it and you want it to stay like this forever, but at the same time you know that this moment is only this beautiful because it is just that, a moment, and it’s going to end. That is a favourite of mine.
It hurts, 2012. Maria Lima
Filling spaces, 2013. Maria Lima
Shoe tree, 2014. Maria Lima
Skateboarding and photography seem to go hand in hand. Why do you think that is? Because they are both very visual art forms. I also think that, in general, subcultures have been photographed a lot because this is where the more radical life forms exist that people find fascinating and at the same time repress or don’t consider “valuable ways of living life”. I mean, skaters have always been thought of like scum, doing nothing with their lives, “kids that never grow up”, you know. But at the same time who doesn’t
want to be a kid forever – it’s awesome! I guess people want to look at things that amaze them, that they don’t see everyday, that leaves an impression of foreignness but also possibilities of other ways of life, where “normal” is challenged. When you rock up to a skate spot, what are you more likely to pick up – your skateboard or your camera? My skateboard. When I’m going to a skate spot I am most likely really excited to skate it. Photography is more for
It heals, 2013. Maria Lima
the after-session. And since I don’t really take pictures of skateboarding – but more “behind the scenes” – it’s not a problem. What is it about analogue photography that you love? Do you ever shoot digital? I like the surprise element. It’s like having your birthday again and again the day you have your film rolls developed. I also like that there is no second try, you click, and that’s it. I like the sound of taking a picture on an analogue camera, I like the weight
of the camera and that the colours of the photograph are like the magic of reality, not the magic of technology. I like having a piece of history in my hands and using it for making new history. I don’t like digital, I tried it, but it never worked for me, it’s too technical, it’s too new, too many screens involved. I fear the future, haha. I miss the time before I was even born. It’s romantic and kind of sad. I am in love with the analogue way of life.
SKATEISTAN MEANS ‘THE LAND OF SKATE’. IT’S OUR LAND. WE ARE THE CITIZENS OF SKATEISTAN. What is the Citizens of Skateistan? The Citizens of Skateistan is an international community of supporters, students, staff and skaters. Skateboarding is a universal language, uniting people all around the world. It is a culture that sees no boundaries, only opportunities; to learn, to progress and to belong. So, as a family they share a dream of bringing children together through skateboarding and education. How can I join the Citizens of Skateistan? When you donate $10 or more on a monthly basis, you can become a Citizen of Skateistan. Why join the Citizens of Skateistan? Donating monthly is the best way to get involved! Your donation will help make skateboarding and education, something that we take for granted each day, accessible to at-risk youth in Afghanistan, Cambodia and South Africa. By donating regularly, you become a part of the Skateistan community alongside students, staff and supporters, as well as Ambassadors like Tony Hawk! Citizens receive the promotional supporters pack with official badges and stickers, an exclusive promotional t- shirt (over $40 a month), or an exclusive promotional hoodie (over $80 a month). They also receive ‘The Citizen’, the exclusive monthly newsletter with the most recent updates from Skateistan’s Skate Schools around the world, plus regular giveaways and discounts at the Skateistan shop and more... Become a citizen today to join Skateistan’s community! Find out more: skateistan.org/citizens-of-skateistan
SKATEISTAN MEANS ‘THE LAND OF SKATE’. IT’S OUR LAND.
Youth Leaders of Skateistan Afghanistan, Kabul, 2014. Hamdullah Hamdard for Skateistan
Erika Kinast, Development Director, Kabul, 2014. Rhianon Bader
Tin, Skateistan Teacher, Phnom Penh, 2016. Skateistan
Outreach student, Skateistan South Africa, 2015. Nidaa Husain
Student, Skateistan Afghanistan, 2010. Jake Simkin
Photographers Sarah Meurle (SWE) Marie Dabbadie (FRA) Mimi Knoop (USA) Lisa Kindberg (SWE) Sarah Huston (AUS) Nam-Chi Van (USA) Louisa Menke (NLD) Maria Lima (DNK)
With special thanks to
The Regional Arts Development Fund is a Queensland Government and City of Gold Coast Council partnership to support local arts and culture
Produced for Yeah Girl, March 2016 Design & interviews by Sarah Huston Copyright is reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited.
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