Inspiring Portraits of Afghanistan’s Pioneering Skateboarding Girls

In her remarkable photo series Skate Girls of Kabul, photographer Jessica Fulford-Dobson documents Afghan girls who have enthusiastically taken up the sport of skateboarding. Skateboarding is one of a limited number of sports available to Afghanistan’s girls–cultural taboos and restrictive clothing limit the activities they can engage in (bicycling is forbidden, for instance).

The girls in Fulford-Dobson’s photos are students at Skateistan, a non-governmental organization that empowers marginalized children–many of whom are streetworkers–through a combination of skateboarding and educational programs. Skateistan was founded in Kabul in 2007 by Australian skateboarder Oliver Percovich. The organization opened its first skateboard park in 2009 and has since expanded to Cambodia and South Africa. Skateistan accepts online donations.

Skate Girls of Kabul by Jessica Fulford-Dobson

photos by Jessica Fulford-Dobson

via Feature Shoot

E.D.W. Lynch
E.D.W. Lynch

Writer and humor generalist on the Internet and on Facebook.