A few months back we received an email from a photographer by the name of Piotrek Drzastwa. It offered up some raw, emotive images of the underground skate scene in Poland. Interested to see more, we asked him to send over some hi-res files but we didn’t hear back.

But yesterday, out of the blue, a wetransfer email showed up.

Boom.

From what we can gather, this trip happened a while back. Regardless, we were so captivated by the imagery and the passionate words from Piotrek that we felt compelled to share them with you.

Much of it is shot in and around a local DIY skate park called the Szaber Bowl, which is located under an old bridge in the center of Warsaw and features the incredibly talented Julian Klincewicz, among others.

Skate has so many facets today that go well beyond the sunny Southern California scene that had dominated skate media coverage for so long. These images represent a small slice of that diversity.

Piotrek added, “You can feel it very clearly at times, and that was the time. It is a page from the history of the place and people, like a utopian vision of the world for every skateboarder, bathed with a note of proper chaos. Completely authentic, true, and sincere. You know, you can imagine it all or just look at the pictures and stand on the threshold of different worlds. See how persistence and hard artisanal work of those who built this place intersect, devoting a large part of themselves to the creativity and artistic chaos from which fresh and unique things are born. Invisible driving force, perpetuum mobile, self-propelling machine. Somewhere here the boundaries of art, craftsmanship, and sacrifice are blurring with ordinary gray and ordinary life. If I could write nicely, I would probably create a beautiful text about how life experiences, hard work, and the pursuit of excellence intertwine with creativity in an unsolved way, creating extraordinary personalities but instead I created this photo editorial because it is what I can do best.”

Well Piotrek, thank you for sharing.

What Youth