Yassine Sellame

Photographer on wheels.

Words: Camélia Sarnefors. Photography: Yassine Sellame.

It’s nearly two in the morning as Yassine Sellame, 27, wraps up his photomontage under the glow of a lamp in an apartment in the lively heart of Casablanca. Originally from Marrakesh, he set up in the country’s economic capital just after finishing his studies in Fez, and landed a job in digital marketing with Shem’s Publicité, one of Morocco’s largest advertising agencies. After long days at the office during the week, Yassine has one lone obsession when the weekend arrives: guide his board over the 4000 square meters of concrete in Skatepark Nevada, located just 5 minutes from where he lives.

“Every Saturday morning, and sometimes Sundays, I always find a bunch of old-school skaters. We spend the day on our boards till 4 or 5 p.m. When I’m not skating, I go there to take photos.”

It’s been 13 years since Yassine stepped onto a skateboard for the first time. In 2012, when he was 17, he did his first photo shoot for One Move Skateboard, a Parisian brand, using a digital camera borrowed from a friend. Two years later, he shot his first portrait using film and paper. Through the lens of a Werlisa Club Color, his skater friend Hamza Khouili strikes a pose in the Nevada park. And while originally it was a lack of means that led Yassine to buy his first film camera, today it’s the only type that he cares for and shoots with.

“Since then, film has become essential to my projects. When you develop your own images, you evaluate your work. Doing so has given me a better perspective on photography and on my future in Morocco.”

With intense passion, Yassine has dedicated himself to skaters’ experiences, immersing himself in the individual stories he has collected from skating hot spots all over the country.

Skateboarder Nassim Lachhab, at the White Spot in Rabat, tries a complex figure, the Nollie Crooked (December 2018). Hanota on Al Omam Square, a skate spot in Tangier, performing an Ollie, one of skateboarding’s most popular tricks (June 2021)

“Thanks to skating, I met people from the four corners of the world. For me, it’s been a life lesson more than anything else. Beyond the sports dimension, it’s about finding a way to help this community to develop, so that it continues to pursue skating and never gives up hope.”

Hanota sliding his board on the steps of Marjane of the Hay Hassani neighbourhood, Casablanca (August 2020).

From 2016 to 2021, Yassine has ridden, camera in hand, around the country’s main skateparks – Marrakesh, Casablanca, Tanger, Rabat, Agadir, Fes, El Jadida – and documented around thirty devotees of the concrete sea. He’s undertaken this labour of love with various analog cameras, collecting stories that together form a sort of archive of the Moroccan skating community.

“Each skater finds freedom, inspiration, cooperation and encouragement from the others, and it’s this energy that I wanted to capture in images through this project.”

Yassine captures Hanota with his Yashica T4 at Casablanca, in August 2020.

Mohamed Said El Mahour, a.k.a. Hanota, 27.

“The first time I stepped on a skateboard, I was 16. I couldn’t stand up for more than a second without falling onto the ground. It was my brother, whose nickname is Zoga, that first took me to the skate spot in Tangier, because he was into BMX. After that I started going every day. I would borrow boards from whomever I could, until one day Zoga bought me my own. I took it as a challenge, and I was keen to accept it, no matter what. And thanks to lots of training, I won my first national competition five years later, in El Jadida. They even gave me a check for 2000 dirhams. My parents own a grocery shop (hanot in Moroccan Arabic), where I’ve spent nearly my entire life. That’s where I got my nickname from, Hanota. My father never approved of my passion for skateboarding and considered it a waste of time. We never agreed about this, and at 22, I decided to leave the shop. I did a succession of jobs here and there. I unloaded flour trucks. Then one day, I was hired as a night watchman in the skatepark of Tangier. It was the best job I ever had!”

Walid in front of the lens of Yassine’s Contax TVS ii, in Casablanca, in September 2020.

Walid Kholfi, a.k.a. Beurdi G, 22.

“I started skating in middle school with my cousin. That’s how I discovered Beurdies, a group of Moroccan skaters that I am still part of today. They make clothes. They take pictures. They shoot videos. They make music. Thanks to skateboarding, I met so many creative people, and that opened my eyes to my real passion: rap.”

Hamid doing a jump, at the Taroudant skate spot, immortalized by Yassine’s Canon AE1, in February 2019.

Hamid Oubelaid, 24.

“I started skating when I was 10. Rachid, my big brother, got me into it. I was quickly spotted by Pacific, one of the first Moroccan skate brands (since vanished), and they signed me up as an ambassador. There was a huge community of skaters in Agadir back then, and I was always the youngest and the smallest in every spot. My dream is to move to Europe–Spain for example–where I could follow this passion like many other Moroccan skaters that I knew. Here it’s impossible. Unfortunately, the Federation doesn’t give us the support that it should. A few months ago, I tried to turn this dream into a reality. I sold my motorcycle so that I could buy a kayak. With two other Moroccans that I met in Tangier, we tried to sneak across the Strait of Gibraltar. The sea was rough that day, and we didn’t have life jackets. At one point we all tumbled into the water and only two of us were able to get back into the kayak. Even today I still don’t know what happened to the third guy. One thing is for sure, though: I never want to try that again.”

Houssam strikes a pose for the photographer and his Contax TVS ii, during a trip in Marrakesh, in 2018.

Houssam Ajmari, 24.

“I grew up in Ouarzazate. That’s where I saw a skater for the first time in my life. When I was younger, I often watched an extreme sports show on an American channel, and the skater fellow that I met was exactly like the ones on that program. I couldn’t believe my eyes! A skater in Ouarzazate! Impossible! So, I followed him and asked him a million and one questions. Then I asked my grandmother, who lived in England, to find a skateboard and send it to me in Morocco. When it arrived, I started to skate with that guy for the rest of his stay in Ouarzazate. When my family moved to Marrakesh, I kept with it and met a good number of other skaters there. Unfortunately, a few years ago, I tore some ligaments and haven’t been able to skate since then. These days I live in Tamraght, near Taghazout, where I work for an association that protects stray animals.”