“I feel free. It just gives me freedom... I would compare it to flying, almost. That’s what it feels like. It’s just bliss, I just feel at peace. I don’t think about anything else. I’ve never done anything that can take my mind away, but skating does that.”

- Ayisha, 22, London

Lockdown in London and an unusually hot summer led to a boom in the skating community. With offices closed, staff on furlough, and organised sports one of the only sanctioned reasons to meet up with others, young people from all over the city began to organise.

Hyde Park and Clapham Common were suddenly full of music and the rush of wheels on hot tarmac. Viral videos of skaters dancing spread far on TikTok and Instagram, and these apps were used to build a community which now numbers in the hundreds in London alone.

This ongoing portrait project looks at a scene which has gone from strength to strength in 2020: a note of true optimism at a time when joy and togetherness have felt hard to come by.