SKATE OR DIE
Through the storytelling of Skateboard videos I became obsessed with skate culture and the unspoken rules of an anarchic game played with a piece of wood and a pair of wheels. A non-sport dominated for so long by white cis men, I wanted to first explore how its rebellious nature was at times so misogynistic, homophobic and racist.
I researched prominent figures in its history of all orientations; female, male, straight, gay and trans and found that it has always been a safe haven for outcasts. It has a long-detailed history documented and perpetuated by the invention of the handheld camera.
It is a culture vehemently opposed to posers, capitalism and all things about upstanding society and yet its mass indoctrination into American culture has elevated it out of a subculture and into the mainstream.
Skating requires blood sweat and cries of joy and defeat. These clothes reflect that dedication, need for mobilization and the open secret that to be one of us you must be completely yourself.
