Arts Thread

Skatepark Baltimore is a collaborative photo project about a self-created youth community that grew to make a Baltimore skateboard park a more inclusive space. Skaters who felt uncomfortable using the park alone realized the need to work cooperatively in order to claim this space as safe—particularly those who identified as transgender, gender-nonconforming, Black-femme, women, and/or queer. The portraits in Skatepark Baltimore celebrate the young people who fight for their access to joy. This art project also uses the social-work methodology of Photovoice, which uses photography to spark conversation around social issues. I began this series of photographs in July 2020 because I wanted to know how the first city in the United States that had legislated for segregated housing was now hosting one of the most inclusive spaces I had ever observed. Slowly, throughout making photographs, interviews, and following the community on social media, I learned safety within this open space came from sustained efforts of solidarity among peers and friends who recognized the shared need for protection. Queerskate Baltimore, Solidarity Skateboards, and Honey Shred are three collectives that formed to plan to show up at the park together. Though there are other skaters who don't identify as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in my project, the people I chose to focus on were individuals who, in some way, resist exclusion from the mainstream culture of skateboarding.