The slabs whistle; a song under my wheels

From February to June 2022, I worked with young skaters* in Plymouth to develop a public mural. A large skateboard frames a collection of skate stickers which were designed in collaboration with the skaters. The stickers are interspersed amongst arcs of colour, which reference the marks that skateboarders leave behind. The mural celebrates the skateboarding community of Plymouth and their use of Civic Plaza, which has been their primary skate spot for several decades.

Skate stickers offer an opportunity to express your identity and to personalise your board. They are small accessible artworks, which carry messages and meaning. Many of the group's designs are funny, playful, or surreal. Some express the flowing motion of riding a skateboard, others address the frustration - and elation - of learning a new trick. 

Each sticker is personal to the maker, but communicates feelings and experiences shared by all skaters. The stickers featured on this mural are also available as a sticker sheet, which people can use to decorate their own boards with the group’s designs. As well as working on this mural and the sticker sheet, I collaborated with the skaters to create an animation and a map of skate spots in the city centre (download a digital copy here).

*The young skaters are part of PRIMEdesign, a group of young people who skateboard at Prime Skatepark in Plymouth.