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THEY ARE SKATEBOARDING REVOLUTIONARIES—IN TRADITIONAL DRESS

Saturday, February 12, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we cover our best tiger images; letting refugees tell their own story; finding serenity in images … and photographer Kwame Brathwaite’s single-minded focus.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LUISA DÖRR

By Whitney Johnson, Director of Visual and Immersive Experiences

“These girls are a symbol for Bolivian people,” said photographer Luisa Dörr. “A resistance, an inspiration for girls of any other country.”

Last year, Luisa spent two weeks documenting the young women of ImillaSkate, a group of Bolivian skateboarders who wear the traditional polleras, outfits of Indigenous Aymara and Quechua women. (Pictured above, boarder Deysi Tacuri López.)

The young women make a statement and so do Luisa’s photographs. They’re filled with the energy of skateboarders in motion—high-top Vans mixing with the traditional hats and a riot of color. By doing so, they transform outfits that were often seen as objects of discrimination into points of pride.

The skaters and Luisa’s images challenge all kinds of stereotypes–about women, cultural heritage, identity, and even sports. Luisa learned about ImillaSkate through social media and “was fascinated by their passion for their culture and the need to preserve it.” (Above, the skaters practicing at a park in Cochabamba, Brazil’s third biggest city.)

This interest in preserving tradition is familiar for Luisa, who photographed Spain’s falleras in 2018 and described that community as “a tradition without ages, where the whole family participates—from grandmother to granddaughter—all celebrating and creating together.”

Back in Bolivia, ImillaSkate goes beyond preserving tradition, as Huara Medina Montaño displays in the image above, with her traditional braids aloft—and her skateboard in tow. These women, Luisa says, “are conquering a space where a woman wasn’t supposed to be.”

Pictured above, Ellinor Buitrago Méndez, surrounded by flowers, floats in her pollera attire. The polleras’ origins date back to the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. See the rest of the story here.

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STORIES WE’RE TRACKING

Photo essay: Polar bears move into abandoned Arctic weather station (The Guardian)

Natural roots: A retrospective of Kwame Brathwaite’s photography (W-S Chronicle)

Our best tiger images—ever (Nat Geo)

Hello Columbus: A love letter—and new way of seeing a city (Washington Post)

Test your knowledge: Take this week’s Nat Geo News Quiz!

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY @NICHOLESOBECKI

History emerges: Schoolchildren visit the pyramid tombs of Kushite kings and queens at the ancient capital of Meroë, Sudan. Under the Islamist dictatorship of Omar al Bashir, Sudan’s school curriculum had ignored or suppressed the country’s non-Muslim heritage and its roots in sub-Saharan Africa. Our story “Sudan’s Reckoning” shows how young Sudanese are drawing inspiration from their past to demand a better future for their country. This image—by Nat Geo Explorer Nichole Sobecki—attracted more than 120,000 people who liked this image on our Instagram page.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY ZAHRA MOJAHED

Showing our own stories: How do you document the lives of migrants? Provide visual equipment and training to those best equipped for the storytelling, Nat Geo reports. Photographer and filmmaker Zahra Mojahed, who tells stories about the experiences of refugees, especially women, shows the new creators. (Pictured above, a 25-year-old woman who fled Iran after filing for divorce from a violent husband who took her daughter. In Greece now after a terrifying journey, her biggest hope is to be reunited with her child.)

IN A FEW WORDS

QUOTE

Maybe we would move to Australia or Africa, and I'd work as a documentarian and photographer for National Geographic.

Ron Howard

Director, actor; writing about his dreams just after marriage

From: The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family

Related: Trailer for Howard’s Rebuilding Paradise, Nat Geo Docs

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY AMI VITALE, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Take some steam: The theme of the latest Photo of the Day archival collection is serenity. Though this 2008 image by Nat Geo Explorer Ami Vitale shows a multitude of people, each is enjoying the waters of the Széchenyi baths in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. In normal years, more than a million people visit the complex, and bathers have included Mila Kunis and Aaron Kutcher (together) and Madonna and Richard Nixon (not together). Here’s the rest of the collection.

SEE VINTAGE PHOTOS

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Monica Williams, and Jen Tse. Have an idea or a link? We’d love to hear from you at [email protected].

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