‘Shove-it: a skateboarding trick where the skateboarder makes the board spin 180 degrees (or more) without the tail of the board hitting the ground under their feet.’

‘Shove-It’ is a visual project which provides support for female skateboarders through the aid of commercial illustration, by Sarah Snidallholmes.  

The beginnings of this project allowed Snidallholmes to research a brief history of women in skateboarding, and how females often face scrutiny and abuse within the skating community. In light of the Tokyo 2020 olympic games, the inclusion of skateboarding has created a new wave of female skaters, and awareness of “name calling” and negative behaviour has begun to be targeted for the better.

Snidallhomes has always been obsessed with 80s/90s skate culture and graphics, which led her to develop some characters, that ultimately represent females and underrepresented persons within skateboarding. Drawing inspiration from shojo and kodomomuke manga styles, she created two fun characters over the course of this project: ‘リニ’ (Rini) and ‘キツネ’ (Kitsune) a rabbit, and a fox. These characters have been an outlet for her to portray various experiences she has had as a skateboarder herself, and also create a range of merchandise and hypothetical products (such as video games). 

It took her a while to understand this project, what she was trying to say with it, and how to say it. Snidallholmes has overcome many creative battles along the way, which have tested her autonomy as an illustrator. She has poured a lot of energy into the drawings that she has made and she hopes that this shines through!