Skateboarding and Creativity: The Aotearoa Dream
Words by Aeran Tapnio (he/him)
The “American Dream” is a cliché that most immigrant families strive to achieve, regardless of where they immigrate to. The dream promises better career opportunities and quality of life for future generations. This might very well be true, but people don’t recognise the hard work and dedication that those immigrants have to put towards building their dream.
Growing up in the Philippines was very different from Aotearoa. The street I grew up on felt like an abomination—pollution, disintegrating houses, stray animals, and drug addicts as far as I could see. Flip the coin of chaos, however, and there was life thriving within the community. The streets brought each other close. Everyone knew everyone—young or old, cat or dog, someone or something knew who you were.
The two things my parents engraved in my mind was the importance of studying hard and getting a good job, like a nurse, doctor, or engineer. It wasn’t until I came to Aotearoa that I realised that I could be something much more creative.
I moved here on my ninth birthday. I didn’t know any English at the time, apart from “yes” and “no.” Filipinos grow up living and breathing the game of basketball, so from an early age I had always been into sports. Attending my first primary school, I noticed that pretty much every single kid had a scooter. I had never seen a scooter before, let alone fathomed kids doing fun tricks on these contraptions. Fast forward a few years after having made some friends that went to skateparks and I was hooked. I then moved up to BMX bikes, and in the latter years of my adolescence, I was introduced to skateboarding.
Skateboarding is divisive; people either love it or hate it. It’s a subculture which combines with many different artforms. I compare skateboarding to my street back in the Philippines. It doesn’t matter what you have or what you lack—skate culture is one big community that attracts people from all walks of life and forms an unspoken, yet unconditional bond between them. Failure is a big part of skateboarding. Failing trick after trick is tough, but teaches you perseverance.
There’s a major stereotype that all skaters are just lazy stoners who vandalise public property. But watching people at the skate park and consuming skate videos and magazines inspired me to take art-based classes in high school. As skateboarding is full of action and beauty, I felt a need to capture it. This is where my love for design and photography started, and I’ve never looked back since.
Every single project in my design and photography classes has been about skating. It became the best way for me to bolster my creativity. Fast forward a few years to 2022, and I’ve finished my Bachelor of Design Innovation degree majoring in Communication Design and secured a job in a marketing agency. At the same time I’ve been ticking things off my bucket list, like having my photography recently featured in Manual Magazine. It’s funny to think that twelve years ago I couldn’t even speak English. It’s surreal how a new country and the subculture of skateboarding has transformed my life into something full of fun and excitement.
This is my Aotearoa dream.
