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Shred The Patriarchy: 'My mother told me that I was bringing shame on the whole family'

Meet the women transforming skateboarding into a form of resistance

Houda Ait Lahcen, one of Morocco’s most talented skateboarders, is making a ollie trick (a skateboarding trick that involves snapping the tail of the board off of a surface, bringing your entire board up into the air) in the port of Essaouira, Morocco. Image: Chantal Pinzi

Shred the Patriarchy is a photography project about how women have empowered themselves by transforming skateboarding into a form of resistance. Berlin-based photojournalist Chantal Pinzi travelled to three countries, Morocco, India and Ethiopia to meet them and see how skateboarding is their chosen way to break societal norms and smash stereotypes.

Image: Chantal Pinzi

Hilam stands on the roof of an abandoned house in Casablanca, Morocco, where she lived for months after her family rejected her. 

“At first, my mother told me that I was bringing shame on the whole family. All that was expected of me was to stay at home and help with the household chores.”

Image: Chantal Pinzi

Young skateboarders from Arba Minch, Ethiopia, pose for a portrait in Konso after a training session at a newly completed skatepark. Arba Minch does not yet have a skatepark, so the skaters practise mainly on the streets. The park in Konso was built by a Spanish NGO called Skate Like Lion.

Read more:

Image: Chantal Pinzi

Houda Ait Lahcen performs a kick turn She left her family in Taroudant to pursue skateboarding and now lives in Marrakesh, where she teaches the sport to a new generation.

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Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Shred the Patriarchy by Chantal Pinzi features in the Beyond the Streets exhibition, showing at Saatchi Gallery, London until 5 May 2027



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