Skateboarding was long associated with drug use and young rebels on city streets, school grounds, and public parks. Those are the distant memories. With origins in Indigenous culture and a connection to surfing, skateboarding has become an Olympic sport. Skateboarding tournaments are held often in the US and other nations. A postage stamp was recently issued as a special acknowledgment for skateboarding. The stamps were introduced by the USPS at a skate park in Phoenix, AZ. Four Indigneous artist-skateboarders produced the skateboards depicted on the stamp. The occasion was officiated by USPS Board of Governors member William Zollars.
Di’Orr Greenwood is an artist among others. The 27-year-old grew up in the Arizonan Navajo Nation, where he was born. She claimed that when she was younger, people would constantly shove her out of skate parks. She pointed out how far the sport had come. According to Greenwood, “it’s like being accepted on a global scale now.” “There’s so many skateboarders I know that are extremely proud of it.” The popularity of skating is highlighted by the new stamps, particularly in Indian Country where there is a growing need for skate parks. The stamp is intended to be a work of functional art that is displayed both domestically and internationally, according to the artists.
Artist Crystal Worl paid tribute to her love of the water and her tribe with her skateboard stamp. A Sockeye salmon fish is depicted on a background of blue and indigo. “Even as an Indigenous person, you have to have permission to share certain stories or designs because there are certain patterns, stories, and designs that belong to certain clans,” Worl stated. Federico “MasPaz” Frum, a muralist in Washington, D.C., who was born in Colombia, and William James Taylor Jr., an artist from Virginia, are the other artists who made stamps. Eighteen million stamps will be printed by the USPS. Being a part of a low-tech initiative in this social media-age is exciting for the artists.
Leave a Reply