Maxallure – Addicere
Words by Donta Hill. Photography by David Gutierrez.
The Calm To Chaos
Waking up at 5 am on a skate trip; the morning after a late night of partying, weed, cigarettes, girls and alcohol. 5 skaters in a guy whom we’ve never seen or met’s 2 bedrooms/1 bath apartment, air mattresses in the living room, office and even kitchen haha. Not to mention such a mix of different people, different personalities, lifestyles, and even stories. One would think not having a team manager there to facilitate such circumstances would be an issue. Waking up as an early bird, before the sun rises and the extraordinary minds of these young artists break into consciousness, you truly get to experience the unique essence of a Skateboarder. How a day can be so planned and organized but still turn into chaos: someone wakes up late, shows up late, needs to stop somewhere, wants to skate something different than everyone else, can’t skate something (for various reasons) or even just weather conditions… But the chaos is where a lot of the beauty is created. How a day can go from being looked forward to, to questioned to praised. It’s the almost inevitable disorganization, the unpredictability that makes what we do so special, so unique, it’s a big part of what makes skateboarding art.
My favourite part about a skate trip is how not pretty the processes are, that be the process of getting a trick, getting outside or even getting to the trip. For example, before the trip even fully started being stuck in the Switzerland airport with Deandre for 5 hours after arriving has become a favourite memory of mine. Taking the “good” with the “bad” is what makes such experiences so special, it emulates Life.
Simon Perrotet, frontside flip.
This Is What Living Is: The Journey
The Journey from Aarau to Lugano, stashed in a full 9 seater van like a box of action figures. Our only option to continue productivity was to escape the rain and find the sun. Instead of as they say “heading through the storm” our journey was through snow and traffic more backed up than the kind in all of the congested cities we come from. From piss stops to getting out the van to skate flat ground in traffic, I think none of the boys knew what to expect looking out the window and seeing snowboard weather for most of the ride. And I think in a way the shot of excitement wore down as boredom kicked in after a while. The limits of hope seemed to be pushed all the way, with promises of sun & Italian paradise being exchanged for an extensive snowy traffic-filled drive through the Swiss Alps. But I’ll never forget the level of joy amongst everyone in the van including myself when finally driving into sun, it was like a movie scene. And out of the entire trip I think this was the most anxious and excited I’ve seen everyone get out of the van.
Cultures Collide: Integration
With all the deep-rooted division in the world, how many things bring completely different people and cultures together in such unexplainable ways? Sitting at a dinner table surrounded by people from all walks of life, so far away from home but yet treated as if I was at home. It even as I write this leaves me and I’m sure everyone else in awe thinking of how much of a pleasure and privilege it was to be welcomed into Janos’ home. Meeting his mother, his father and his Brother, and being prepared a traditional Swiss dinner (which was amazing). Regardless of how we looked or where we came from, we were treated like family. I remember prior to this complimenting how much of a good guy Janos is, how happy and smiley he seems to always be. Meeting his beautiful family I now see why, it’s the things money can’t buy.
One thing that stood out to me was how his brother didn’t speak English, but somehow we were able to bond over the fact that we both boxed. We even got a mini-training session in, in the garage. See stuff like that really reminds me that we connect so far beyond the on-the-surface things we use to divide us.
Marcello Campanello, backside flip.
Skateboarding: The Experience
After such a trip, going back to everyday lives and routine, we take home footage, photos, gifts & souvenirs, but the real souvenirs are the connections, the bonds and the brotherhood amongst fellow skateboarders (artists) that sometimes even seem to surprise us. My favourite souvenirs are the ones that will forever live within… The moments we’ll never get back but always be able to relive and time travel to through stories, imagination and reminiscence.
The Slam: Life’s Mysterious Work
Life works in such mysterious ways… One moment you’re excited for 12 days of skating awesome spots in an entirely different country with your friends and at the snap of fingers you’re in the hospital contemplating on if it just wasn’t your time to be there. First skate day, first spot, excited and full of adrenaline to skate on lands I had yet to touch; what was supposed to be I think a “warm up” spot turned into a good find of a rail (that’s just how unpredictable skateboarding is): a tall (I believe) bike rack of some sort with pointy fountain-like things sticking out from the sides and not too much room to bail off the sides. It was either going to be a great clip/photo or a rough day… Just how rough I had anticipated though. Nervous as hell I got myself to start the process and hop on some boardslides, which then led to the cameras being pulled out and my levels of comfort and confidence going up. The boardslides eventually started to become fun and made me feel like it was a warm-up. Now every skateboarder knows the old standard: I’ve boardslid so many rails that what was once scary as hell soon felt pointless to settle for, so lip or “suicide lip” was the next contender. The process starts all over again; from nervous as hell to comfortable and confident… Next thing you know I’m running on autopilot. That is until one wrong pop sent me slamming into the bottom bar of the bike rack which already pissed me off for making try for as long as I had, and now made me even more pissed off. My first instinct was to get up and break my board but the pain on my sides from falling on the bottom railing hurt too bad to even bother. Gathering what had just happened I couldn’t help but see my jeans were ripped, under the rip was a big gash that had been taken out of my leg coming down on the fall (from the pointy fountain-like things). There it is… I’m fucked, no insurance, in a whole other country, can’t rely on my self-healing and avoidance of the hospital this time… Not to mention I didn’t get the trick, won’t be able to skate and ripped a good pair of pants haha. Now I felt perfectly fine minus this big ass gash in my leg but the reactions of everyone around me made me wonder if I should be worried. I know as a skateboarder how the harsh realities can be hard to watch so I felt of service to remind everyone that I was okay, even though again given their reaction I didn’t know if I should be scared or not. Now when I said life works in mysterious ways, that’s because one of the most beautiful moments of my life was while being rushed to the hospital by Krys and Janos and hearing Krys (a good friend of ours who was paralyzed after an accident) share that how given his circumstances how much he not only just appreciates all that he has in his life but how he has nothing to possibly complain about. That kind of humility left me in awe and turned the big gash on my leg into a paper scratch.
Lil Dre, fakie front shuv.
I firmly believe that the artistry of a skateboarder is something to be praised given the risk we’re willing to take and fire we play with, all for a photo, or a couple seconds of a clip that for the most part only another skateboarder will actually understand and appreciate. I like to look at that as a language only we can speak.
As I look back, that slam was the best thing to ever happen to me… It allowed me to be able to connect with those whom I now call my brothers in a way that goes far beyond how well I’m performing.
