London-based writer and photographer, Alice Zoo, began taking long, sprawling walks during lockdown. Like pretty much everyone else her thought processes began bordering on the “existential.”
During the unseasonably hot month of May, Alice found Hyde Park was full of roller-skaters, who cut through the otherwise eerily empty landscape. She saw “people zipping along the edges of the Serpentine, eating ice creams, stretching each other out on the grass, playing music.”
Source: It’s Nice That
The sense of community and relaxed atmosphere imprinted upon Alice’s otherwise contemplative mood and made her resolve to photograph the groups immediately. In general, her work often focuses on how people construct meaning for themselves. The optimism she encountered among the groups conjured an intrigue in her.
How did they exude such excitement when the world around them felt so bleak? This energy is captured perfectly in Skaters.
Source: It’s Nice That
It turns out many in London started to skate more, or take up skating in the first place at the start of lockdown. Empty streets, hot days, and a need for excitement created the perfect setting for skaters to communicate, gather and improve.
With more time and less distractions, skating has been able to flourish during lockdown and Alice Zoo’s Skaters is a humbling testimony of the hope developed across the community.
Source: It’s Nice That
