As Larry Clark once said, \u201cif you\u2019re going to photograph skateboarders, you\u2019ve got to learn how to skate.\u201d The American director did his first kickflip at aged 50 and went on to make one of the most notorious teen movies of our time \u2014 the gritty cult coming-of-age film that traversed a day in the life of inner-city New York skaters and self-conscious school kids, and gave the world Chloe Sevigny.<\/p>\n
Since\u00a0Kids\u00a0<\/i>cemented its understatedly cool aesthetic,\u00a0skate culture has gone from a rarefied movement to a mainstream trend, birthing the streetwear epidemic that\u2019s seen once-underground brands like Palace and Supreme co-opted by teenage hypebeasts worldwide, and high fashion taking cues from the street. But ever since its inception, skating has existed at the intersection of mainstream and underground. On one hand, it\u2019s a universally accessible \u2014 and free \u2014 activity, transcending class, race and geographical boundaries, with public space and the streets as its playground; on the other, it\u2019s an \u201cexclusive\u201d subculture tied up in teenage rebellion, particular musical affinities and distinct aesthetic brand of baggy-cool.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":false,"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"
And since its genesis, skate culture has been immortalised on camera, lensed by indie directors, documentary photographers and skate crew amateurs from the scene\u2019s mecca in Barcelona all the way to Lagos, Nigeria. Now, a new exhibition in London,\u00a0Against the Grain: Skate Culture and the Camera,<\/i>\u00a0aims to\u00a0explore the enduring photographic legacy of skateboarding. Comprising a vast body of work that spans the last half century, the exhibition aims to examine the vibrancy of skate photography as a genre, showcasing the work of Spike Jonze, Glen E. Friedman and Mark Gonzales to name but three, as well as archival imagery from\u00a0Thrasher,\u00a0Transworld, R.a.D\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Sidewalk,\u00a0<\/em>the magazines\u00a0that shaped the international skate scene. Conceived ahead of skateboarding\u2019s Olympic debut in 2020, the exhibition will tour to North America in 2019, before arriving in Tokyo to coincide with the games.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery":false,"settings":{"height":"70","images_to_show":"1","caption":""}}]},"yoast_head":"\n