How a Scottish photographer immortalised Afghanistan's female skaters

The photographer, himself an avid skateboarder, had travelled more than five thousand miles to one of the most embattled countries on earth. Invited by ‘Skateistan’, a not for profit organisation which works with young people and marginalised groups, Buchanan jumped at the chance to pair two of his great loves. 

Travelling first to a Skateistan school in Kabul, before heading to Afghanistan’s fourth largest city, Mazar i Sharif, Buchanan was swept away by the joy exhibited by the young skaters. 

“I couldn’t speak the language. The younger girls couldn’t speak English,” Buchanan remembered. “[But] there was a universal connection through skateboarding. It was a very relatable subject for me, because it is something I love…. The kids needed no encouragement from me.”

(Image: Andy Buchanan) Rolling Resistance in Afghanistan (Image: Andy Buchanan)

Six years later, with the resurgence of the Taliban nixing attempts to return to the country, Buchanan has published these photos for the first time. His 32 page ‘zine’, entitled ‘Rolling Resistance’, focuses on the experiences of female Afghans and is a love letter to the transformative power of skateboarding. 

“Skateboarding provides great physical and mental health benefits,” Buchanan told The Herald. “It boosts confidence and teaches discipline and self determination. It’s a difficult thing to do and even small steps can bring a huge feeling of achievement and success.

“The Western [perspective] on skateboarding is often a negative stereotype of a skater being a stoner kid looking to rebel. That’s not true… The net benefits are always positive.

“The girls in Afghanistan also got to have social lives and communication on their own terms. At school and at the skatepark they could express themselves in a fully supportive, safe environment, without fear of judgement or prejudice, outwith their societal norms. They could build their own community and be able to relax and have fun away from the often extremely difficult situations they lived in.

“The broad appeal of skateboarding across all the age groups really brought them together, from around age four up to adults, the mutual respect and total encouragement was wonderful to see.”

(Image: Andy Buchanan)

Founded by Oliver Percovich in 2007, Skateistan began as the skateboard-mad Aussie shared his boards with the curious youths he encountered on the streets of Kabul. He quickly realised that skateboarding could be used to increase educational opportunities and teach essential life skills. The charity has thrived in the face of significant challenges, including a tragic incident in 2012, when four of their students were killed by a Taliban-linked suicide bomber. 

Today, Skateistan focuses on skating-based initiatives which benefit women and girls, as well as other marginalised groups such as migrants and ethnic minorities. It has built five dedicated skateparks and educational facilities in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and South Africa. It also supports more than three hundred skateboarding projects in dozens of countries around the world. 

Yet, the resurgence of the Taliban in 2021 has forced Skateistan’s projects to adapt to draconian restrictions, which prohibit girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade. Despite this, a Skateistan spokesperson said that the work of the organisation continues to expand, including among refugees and asylum seekers fleeing violence and persecution. 

(Image: Andy Buchanan)

He remarked: “Since 2007, when Skateistan began in a derelict fountain in Kabul, we’ve been driving a global movement in skateboarding and creative learning. So, while our operations have had to adapt to the Taliban’s recent restrictions in Afghanistan, we continue to work with young Afghan girls and boys in the country and further afield, as in the case of our projects in Iran, Athens, and other countries which received asylum seekers from the region. But we don’t stop there. 

“In everything we do, we want to bring the world on board. Skateistan currently works with at-risk youth in 20+ locations, from South Sudan, to Lebanon, to Brazil. With 7,500 participants globally, we specifically focus on girls, BIPOC and children with disabilities, to ensure they have the spaces and resources they need to learn, play and shape their futures, through skateboarding.”

Buchanan said that the photos demonstrate how skateboarding was able to empower girls inside Afghanistan.

Read More: 

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• 'Afghanistan is lost to us': Scots Afghans reflect on three years since fall of Kabul

• 'Gender apartheid' - What is it like to live in a country at war with its own women?

“The zine is not wholly about just skateboarding,” he noted. “It's a two sided thing. Skateistan gives light to a lot of these people’s lives, [but] they’ve had to curtail a lot of their work because of the current political situation.”

“The girls can’t go to school now,” he added. “Schools are only open for boys. Girls can’t go.”

Stuart Braithwaite, guitarist for rock band Mogwai, composed the foreword to the zine. He wrote: “Skateboarding changed my life. I’m certain I’m far from alone in holding that view. It has changed millions of people’s lives.

“From the lesson that when you fall and hurt yourself, the solution is to get back up and try again, to the sheer will required to learn how to stand and roll on a board or to do the trick eventually; it’s richly rewarding.

“Skateboarding isn’t really a sport. It’s more like music or art. It is something that brings people together. Whatever your gender, colour, or religion, it doesn’t matter. If you want to skate, you are a skateboarder and part of the skateboarding family. Seeing this joy brought to new parts of the world by organisations such as Skateistan is wonderful.”

Three years after the fall of Kabul, and Braithwaite’s words ring true. The people of Afghanistan have fallen off the board (or rather, have been pushed). Now, the struggle to stand up has begun, in the hopes that the girls of Afghanistan will once again return to the skate school. Then, the joy on their faces will be restored. 

‘Rolling Resistance’, which consists of 36 black and white photos, is available for sale online at Rolling Resistance - Shopify or at Street Level Photoworks.