The Lone Skater

While skateboarding emerged in the 1950s surf scene of Californi largely white and West Coast the culture has, over decades, been reshaped by diverse communities, with Black youth carving out their own space. In urban environments, skateboarding offered an alternative to mainstream sports, functioning as a form of creative rebellion, self-expression, and community-building.

This series of works on paper and paintings in part was a la homage to a lost childhood. Reflections on an idealised youth, skateboarding through the streets of East London; yet the reality was so different. British subcultures of the 1970's were steeped in working class traditions like football, rugby and athletics. Skating albeit an American invention was not traditional to East London. Ventures and travels into West London in my late teens introduced me to a wider class structure of people who embraced subcultures that had been imported from the USA.

Exhibited as part of the Group Show | Front Room October 2025, London.