Skating With New Zealand’s All-Girl Crew ‘Sisters of Shred’

In our VICELAND show EPICLY LATER'D we link up with Tony Hawk, Chad Muska, Andrew Reynolds and a host of other legendary pros. Skating has always been about what's happening on the streets, so to celebrate th revival of the best show about skateboarding in the history of skateboarding we sent photographer Dasha Love to an Auckland skate park to document an all-girl crew skating their own way. EPICLY LATER'D, Wednesdays 7.30 PM on VICELAND, SKY Channel 13.

“When I first started I was really shy,” says Tanja Swanepoel, 17, who spends her free time grinding at Auckland’s skate parks. “It was really hard for me because of how little confidence I had, but then after skating a bit more with friends, I realised it’s a lot nicer when you have more people around.”

Social skateboarding lead Swanepoel to start Sisters of Shred back in 2016. The all-girls skate crew organise meet-ups via a 200-strong Facebook group; Swanepoel hosts workshops and girls-only lessons to empower her peers in a traditionally male-drenched industry. “Confidence was my biggest barrier,” says Swanepoel. “Most of the girls I’ve talked to, it’s been their biggest barrier too.”

As it turns out, skateboarding isn’t exempt from the world’s acute gender pay gap, with the sport’s male dominance reflected in prize money discrepancies. In 2017, the Australian Bowl Riding Championships dished out $5,000 to the male winner and a measly $500 to the female. Similarly, popular competition Bowl-A-Rama had a $15,000 prize for men and a two grand prize for women.

While Swanepoel feels there is a common misconception that the sport is just for guys, she’s never had any negative feedback about what she’s doing. “I haven’t had anyone tell me it’s not for me,” she says. “My family didn’t like it at the start because I was coming home with bruises and bleeding knees all the time, but then over time they kind of accepted it."

In this photo series, photographer Dasha Love meets the young women at the Birkenhead skate park, capturing them as they cut a bunch of shapes and bond over their mutual love for the bowl.

Follow Dasha Love on Instagram and see more of her work here.

You can watch EPICLY LATER'D, Wednesdays 7.30 PM on VICELAND, SKY Channel 13.