Kitintale (signed)

Yann Gross mostly focuses his work on identities, dreams and senses of belonging to communities. He’s interested in the way people come together and create their own subculture.
The first Uganda skateboarders were inspired by the television, but hadn’t any concrete to practice on in their neighborhood. They built the only skatepark of East Africa with their own hands in Kitintale, a working class suburb of Kampala. With no assistance from government or large NGO’s, kids from Uganda took significant steps to overcome boredom and poverty through skateboarding. Skateboarding keeps the youth busy, combats the development of negative habits and develops a sense of belonging to a community.
The elder skateboarders became also kind of educators. They talk about the problems that many Ugandan families are facing like HIV or malaria and try to inculcate values such as respect and solidarity among the younger ones.