Series description
Since the beginning of the Russia–Ukraine war, skateboarding in Ukraine has taken on a unique dimension: an escape. From a sport once practiced surrounded by friends, skateboarding has become a window to freedom amidst chaos and anxiety. However, it is difficult not to be brought back to reality, as the war asserts itself at every turn. ‘Near vast brutalist squares lie buildings torn apart by Russian shells, and even the composition of the roads they skate on reminds them of the situation: the rough pavement that hinders them is firmly oriented towards the East and its Soviet past. Today, Ukrainian skaters who have not gone to fight are waging an entirely different battle — to reclaim the streets and the spaces marked by war and to allow themselves to live again.’
Biography
Born in 1995, Robin Tutenges is a multi-award-winning French photographer, member of collectif Hors Format, who focuses his work on crises and their consequences, with particular attention to human and women's rights violations. His long-term reports have led him to work in India on the farmers' revolt, in Kazakhstan on survivors of Xinjiang camps, and in Ukraine on the skateboarding community. Since 2022, he has been documenting the armed resistance against the junta in Myanmar.
Artem
Artem (22) was born in Luhansk. At the start of the Russian invasion, the young Ukrainian packed a couple of things into a small backpack, grabbed his skateboard and left Kyiv for a while, joining the floods of displaced people then making their way to the west. By continuing to skateboard every day, he has vowed not to let the war take over his life, depriving him of ‘his best years’, his adolescence.
Kyiv, Ukraine.
© Robin Tutenges, France, Shortlist, Professional competition, Sport, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Back to the street
The streets of some Ukrainian towns, far from the front lines, may seem to be returning to normality, but nothing is really the same. War is present at every turn, whether it’s the shell-torn buildings, the sandbags on the corners of caulked windows or the anti-tank crosses – as here, where dozens of them are stacked beneath a plastic tarpaulin. By reclaiming these dark places, Ukrainian skateboarders ‘want to give themselves permission to live.’
Kyiv, Ukraine.
© Robin Tutenges, France, Shortlist, Professional competition, Sport, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Soviet time
Vasilkan and Sasha, two Ukrainian skateboarders, pass in front of a mural celebrating the soldiers of the Battle of Krouty – yet another symbol of Ukrainian resistance to its eastern neighbour. Caught in the middle of this war from which they cannot escape (men aged between 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country), the young skateboarders live with the fear of forced conscription.
Kyiv, Ukraine.
© Robin Tutenges, France, Shortlist, Professional competition, Sport, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Tank
A few kilometres from the front line, in the city of Kharkiv, the situation is different from the west of the country and the capital. Air strikes and a constant threat from the Russian army has driven many skateboarders into exile, gradually emptying the country's skateboarding hotspot of its riders.
Kharkiv, Ukraine.
© Robin Tutenges, France, Shortlist, Professional competition, Sport, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Dnipro
Éric (23) and Élia (22) ride their skateboards in front of a building in the town of Dnipro, which was bombed by the Russians in January 2023, killing 44 people. ‘It's hard to keep skating when you're passing that kind of place,’ Éric sighs. ‘But it's necessary. Life shouldn't stop. On the contrary, we have to make the most of every moment to live all the more intensely. It's also a way of honouring those who have fallen so that we can live.’
Dnipro, Ukraine.
© Robin Tutenges, France, Shortlist, Professional competition, Sport, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Dream
Young Ukrainian skateboarders spend their day with one of their ‘homies’ in a small Khrushchev Soviet-style building on the outskirts of Kyiv. The photographer explains, ‘loud music, alcohol and drugs are sometimes not enough to hide the depression in which their generation is stuck. For many, the war has put their work and their dreams on hold.’
Kyiv, Ukraine.
© Robin Tutenges, France, Shortlist, Professional competition, Sport, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Train
Vasilkan (27) returns to Odessa on the night train. He had just spent ten days in Kyiv, staying with one of his skateboarding friends. ‘Odessa had been really dangerous for some time – I saw a missile being shot down over my head,’ he says. Vasilkan has been skating for half his life: ‘Nothing can stop me from doing it.’
Kyiv, Ukraine.
© Robin Tutenges, France, Shortlist, Professional competition, Sport, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards
Izioum
The remains of more than 444 graves, discovered in the forest near Izioum after the Russians withdrew from the city in September 2022. Death in Ukraine is everywhere and doesn't spare the skateboarding community.
Izioum, Ukraine.
© Robin Tutenges, France, Shortlist, Professional competition, Sport, 2025 Sony World Photography Awards