LOÏC LAFORGE
RIDE FAST... RIDE FREE
2018
Abdullah, 18 years old, was born in Qalqilya on the first of february 2000 ... In the middle of the second intifadah.
Abduallah is Palestinian ...
Abdullah is a skateboarder, one of the most talented skateboarder in Palestine.
Qalqilya is a small city of the West Bank. Located one hour north west of Ramallah, right on the Israeli/ Palestinian border, surrounded by the apartheid wall on one side and illegal settlements on the other. Israeli military occupation there is heavy. Added to this Qalqilya is a relatively conservative muslim town.
We met each other there in 2015 while I was taking part as a volunteer in a project called Skatepal, which aims to introduce skateboarding to the children of the West Bank, by building skateparks, offering skateboards and teaching skateboarding.
One of the main thing about skateboarding is that it brings people together, and that's what happened with Abdullah, Charlie Davis (Skatepal's founder) and all the people that came to volunteer for Skatepal.
« Here we have no freedom of movement ... no opportunity to play, study, or work ...
skateboard help me clear my mind, and it's pretty much all we can do »
The occupation forces opperate all over the West Bank and Palestinians confront it in their every day life, there are physical violent confrontations but there is also a strong psycholigical aspect from being occupied.
In a place like Qalqilya, surrounded by the wall, it is a everyday face to face to the apartheid politic of Israel, bringing very complex issues as well as basic human rights privation.
In this situation skateboard for Abdullah has become a tool for self developement, self confidence, perseverance, giving him the chance to reclaim his own urban space, looking at his surrounding with a new perspective, turning it into a playground.
« skateboarding here is a message to say that no matter what they do,
no matter what walls they put, we are gonna keep having fun, we are gonna keep skating,
we are gonna ... we are gonna ... we are gonna Live. »
 Abdullah enjoying the morning sun on his balcony. Ramallah, 2018 |  View of Nablus, the biggest city near Qalqilya where Abdullah bought his first skateboard equipments and started to look for street skate spots. Nablus, 2016 |  Abdullah sitting at the bottom of the apartheid wall surrounding his hometown. Qalqilya, 2015 |
|---|---|---|
 Olive trees are a symbol of palestinian identity. Ramallah, 2018 |  Abdullah yelling at me (as a joke) to express his hanger about the place he is living in. Qalqilya, 2016 |  Abdullah hitting the streets, powerslide. Ramallah, 2018 |
 Abu Ali, Omar and Abdullah skateboarding together at the Asira Ash Shamaliya skatepark. The park was built by skatepal in 2015. Omar bluntslide. Asira Ash Shamaliya, 2018 |  Abdullah and his very good friend Omar having a cigarette and chilling after a skate session. Qalqilya, 2016 |  Jayyous skatepark, the last skatepark built by skatepal in 2017. It‘s located in Jayyous, a village 5 min drive from Qallqilya. In the background we can see the Israeli border, here the wall hasn‘t been built yet, patrol road and barbwire „only“. On the far left is Tel Aviv (30 min drive), on the far right Netanya. Some days kids can see the sea from the skatepark. Jayyous, 2018 |
 Abdullah playing guitar in La Grotta, a bar in Ramallah. Ramallah, 2018 |  Yasser arafat‘s portrait in a house in qalqilya. We went to this place, together with James (another skatepal volunteer) and a bottle of vodka bought in a christian village near Qalqilya, to meet Abdullah and his friend Eihab. Eihab played techno, we drunk that bottle, since they were not used to drink they went drunk pretty fast and we had a crazy night. Qalqilya being relatively conservative we had to close every window to not be visible from the outside. Qalqilya, 2015 |  Abdullah‘s home. Qalqilya, 2016 |
 Abdullah. Qalqilya, 2016 |  Abdullah (left) with Charlie and Theo (right), founder of skate pal, talking about the project and the role skate- boarding can play on palestinian youth. Ramallah, 2018 |  Abdullah skating the streets at night. Ramallah, 2018 |
 Ride Fast, graf ti in the skatepark. Asira Ash Shamilya, 2018 |  Ride Free, graf ti in the skatepark. Asira Ash Shamilya, 2018 |
