Glimpse Ethiopia’s burgeoning skate scene

Skateboarding and photography are mediums that go hand-in-hand: Russian creative Stas Galaktionov has captured how skate culture is saving the lives of Moscow’s youth, and the Skate Girls of Kabul series tells the tale of female skaters in Afghanistan, fighting for education and women’s policy. Now, Berlin photographer Daniel Reiter is tracing the grassroots youth skater movement in the African enclave.

Reiter first visited the country, known as ‘the horn of Africa’, to support a friend who was meeting her mother for the first time in 33 years. While researching for his trip he came across Ethiopiaskate.org, a community championing local skate talent. From there, he connected with its founder Abenezer Temesgen, and the local kids of Addis Ababa involved.

“Skateboarding in Ethiopia started almost a decade ago, when there were only a handful of skateboards in the whole country,” explains Reiter. “Today, due to its missing skate-infrastructure, skate culture is still at the very beginning. There are no skate shops – you literally can’t buy skate gear in Ethiopia, no local skate magazines and unfortunately no skate park that would spark the fire and give all interested kids a safe and challenging environment. But thanks to donations of skate gear the community is growing and the kids are getting better and better.”

EthiopiaSkate is now an official non profit organisation, and a skatepark is currently under construction, with hopes that the skate community will grow even faster and the culture will develop as a natural consequence.

“In contrast to images of the great Dogtown Z-Boys in 1970s Southern California, which show skate culture as quite rebellious, EthiopiaSkate is shown as less of an outsider culture, but more centred around empowerment. Jessica Fulford-Dobson’s Skate Girls of Kabul and Yann Gross’ images of Ugandan skateboarders are great reference points to compare and contrast, as it shows young kids using skate culture to better themselves.”

With the exhibition, curated by Jacob Roberts-Mensah, coming to London, Reiter hopes to shed light on the wondrous subculture: “One of the great things about skateboarding is how it illustrates – perhaps more so than other sports just – how strong and tough these kids are,” says Reiter. “These kids move with unstoppable courage, and if they fall they just get back up again and try again. It’s an awesome way to show the passion and drive of these young kids in Ethiopia. My goal is to really show how simple it can be to bring joy and happiness to their world.”

Check out the exhibition at Rich Mix Lower Café Gallery, supported by somewhereto_ on April 6, and more on the work of Ethiopiaskate