Elsewhere tells the story of skateboarding in the UK during the pivotal era between 1987 and 2002, when the British iteration of the sport developed its own unique identity and subsequently went on to inspire and transform global popular culture.

While British skateboarders moved the sport away from its Californian roots, embracing a different terrain, with skaters in the north taking to ramps in abandoned warehouses and those in the south skating the streets of new developments, the story of skateboarding in the UK goes far beyond the act of riding a board. As important were the cottage industries of clothes manufacturing, photography, filmmaking, and zine production that were inspired by British skateboarders, many of which are now multimillion-dollar brands that regulate mainstream culture today.

Told chronologically through interviews with the people who were there and accompanied by archival photography and artwork, much of which is unseen, Elsewhere traces the history of British skateboarding from the beginning of its identity shift to the start of the new millennium, exploring the impact it continues to have on fashion, film, photography, art, and media today.

About The Author

Neil Macdonald has been skateboarding since 1988, and writing about skateboarding for Sidewalk, North, Free, and Grey since 2007. He owns one of the world’s largest libraries of printed and audiovisual skateboard media, including complete sets of all UK publications and almost every British-made skateboard film, as well as many hundreds of pieces of hardware and clothing. His @scienceversuslife Instagram account celebrates the stylistic innovation of ’90s skateboarding.