Roll in the Park

Miscimage presents Roll in the Park

In the two years since Dominic Travers last exhibited at the old Bongo Club there have been developments in the provision of Scottish municipal skate parks. In Edinburgh the development has taken the form of an almighty battle about which beauty spot to ruin with some square metres of sculpted concrete. Many residents seem to view a skate park as being a centre of all evil that will turn their charming middle class children into hard partying S&M fiends. Quite possibly, but along the way many of them will thrive in the friendly competition environment and become highly skilled skate boarding or bmx riding expressionists. Fortunately a world class park has been built in Perth and some excellent smaller spots have appeared in unlikely locations in Fife.

It is this artist's opinion that skate parks are a thing of beauty. They are three dimensional interactive sculptures that attract the finest in style writing on their walls. They harbour communities that are self perpetuating in pursuit of sporting excellence. Free sports such as skating and bmx are the biggest growth area in sport. This is because these sports allow people to express themselves individually with style and courage. The rewards are the adrenaline rush and notoriety. Parks attract the major teams to visit, this provides opportunities to see the best riders in the world and for locals to impress the big players. The Scottish skate community has nurtured some the best skateboarders in the country, new parks will only improve on this.

Roll in the Park is an exhibition of photography from the existing clutch of concrete parks in Scotland. The images concentrate on the essence of parks, riding lines and making tricks. Working with some of the best riders in Scotland has enabled me to capture images highlighting the interaction of the human, the wheels and the curves of concrete. The exhibition aims to illustrate what it is possible to see if you look carefully at the parks and their communities. Above all we should be able to do all this right here in Edinburgh. Come and look at this exhibition to see why.