#Skateistan10: Of the past: Alexandra Bald, Former Skateistan Design Volunteer
As Skateistan celebrates 10 years, founder Oliver Percovich caught up with some of the most influential individuals that helped Skateistan to grow from its early beginnings in Kabul, into an award-winning international organization. In 2008, when Oliver first began establishing Skateistan, he called upon his friend and talented designer Alexandra for support. Enthusiastic to be a part of the project, Alexandra offered to design the first Skateistan logo and went on to establish the organization’s visual identity for the following 6 years.
Oliver Percovich: When I wanted to start Skateistan in 2007, I approached you to rework the logo of a skateboarder with a broken AK47. I totally loved what you designed. What was your approach to designing the logo that we’ve used for the past 10 years?
Alexandra Bald: Everything started with an email that you sent in 2007. It mentioned this plan to build a Skate School in Kabul and you were asking for help either financially or in whatever way people could to support the project. I remember thinking that I could design a logo and develop the corporate design to make it look professional so you could get funding. At first I wasn’t sure about the skateboard and the gun as it wasn't telling the full story, but I liked it as a positive image to show that you can change things.
When researching the logo, I just scrolled through the internet and watched skate flicks and tried to figure out a shape that would work with the gun. I picked a classic font, Helvetica, to make it look serious but modern. The image of the skater was very complicated itself so you didn’t need another complicated script font.
OP: Once you’d designed the logo, you volunteered your highly professional design services to Skateistan for more than 6 years, which was an incredible contribution. It included the production of the Skateistan book, collaborations with various brands, photo exhibitions, and billboard campaigns around Berlin. The designs you produced were unique, exciting and beautiful. What kept you motivated to volunteer at such a high level for such a long time?
AP: You guys always provided information and photos and everybody in the team could see there was progress. I remember so many Skype sessions at the beginning with you and all the crazy stories you were telling me. It felt so right to go on and support the project.
OP: Did you feel sorry for me?
AP: (laughs) Well I felt sorry for you when you had no heating, yes! But I believed in it all the time. Of course it was hard when you would read something in the news. I remember when the skatepark was already built, there was one huge attack in Kabul and you guys were all in lockdown and sleeping in the skatepark. I got really attached to everyone working at Skateistan. I just believed in it and wanted to support it.
OP: I was reading today that there have been 1430 attacks in Kabul in the last 10 years, since 2007–17. It’s so crazy that we have been able to operate for 10 years and avoid all of those things.
AP: That’s one thing that kept me going. I wanted to show people that there are also positive things going on. When you read about Afghanistan you always read about negative things and the media creates an image of Afghan people as being brutal and crazy. This was also a very important experience for me that I, first-hand, could talk to people in Germany and tell them that, yes this might be partially true, but there is a lot more too.
OP: Do you have a personal story that stands out from the last 10 years that’s a highlight?
AP: There are many. I think the most important thing for me was the journey to Kabul in 2013. It was one of the most important journeys of my life. It was so nice to see and visit a different country and culture, and also be in a war zone for the first time in my life and recognize that there is another reality than the one we experience in the first world. Also, surprisingly, in Afghanistan it was the first time that I really felt like a feminist, or like a woman. Here in the first world, there are problems and there is unfairness, but when you go to a country like Afghanistan where women have a totally different role, you recognize how much they stick together and how much they give shelter to each other. That was very interesting and very important to me as a woman.
OP: I think that going to Afghanistan was maybe the first time that I became a feminist too. It was really the fact that the girls were skateboarding that motivated me to do something more. The fact that there were just no women in shops — nowhere–it just blew my mind.
AP: I know. And the women I met in Afghanistan had so few options in their lives. Of course you know it, but it’s a different thing when you see it first hand and you talk to them. You really realize how lucky you are. You have a German passport, you’re white and you have a university degree–you don’t have any problems.
OP: Do you think that the involvement with Skateistan changed your perspective of the world in some larger way?
AP: The whole topic of NGO work is a big issue. I’m always questioning myself if it’s the right way, especially now in Germany. I just started a project called Melting Pots. It’s a cookbook about people, immigrants and Germans, living where I do in Mannheim. I chose the topic for the book because I don’t like the way that the media is treating the immigration topic at the moment. People talk as if all immigrants will go back to their countries if they are safe again. Of course many people will go home and try to rebuild their countries, but many people will stay in Germany, and they will be the mix that Germany is in 10 years time. I want people to accept this.
OP: It’s interesting how those crises in some parts of the world are shaping other parts of the world. What would you like to see Skateistan do over the next 10 years?
AP: Good question. Well, there’s the big safety issue, how to sustain the schools in Afghanistan especially. I hope that you guys will find a way to stay there and make it work in the future. Apart from that, it would be great if there was more exchange between the countries if possible. It’s hard but it would be great for them to visit each other and to have a sort of exchange program. And with that, of course, to secure more funding.
OP: We have started to do some of that, but we hope to do more. Thank you so much for taking part, it was really awesome to hear your thoughts. A really deep thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you put into Skateistan. It was really special in terms of Skateistan’s look, it was how we were seen and how we were perceived. I’m really glad that were able to have you involved from the start, so thank you again.
AP: Thank you Ollie, I’m very happy to be part of the whole project.
Thanks to the support of individuals and organisations, such as Alexandra, we have been empowering children through skateboarding and education for 10 years now. Celebrate and follow this milestone with us on the blog, and get ready for our new campaign to support 10 more years of Skateistan which launches May 10th.
