Skate Yarmouth!

High Rollers

Artistic roller skating was in its heyday in the 1970s and ’80s when Debby was growing up, and the Norfolk seaside town became an unlikely mecca for the sport, she explains. “I think that Great Yarmouth Roller Skating Club was probably one of the most successful skating clubs in the country in terms of the calibre of the skaters, and there were so many fantastic skaters from there who took part in the Artistic Skating World Championships.

“I got into it because my mum found out there was a skating centre in Great Yarmouth Winter Gardens. It was like a big Victorian greenhouse that had been dismantled and moved to Great Yarmouth from Torquay in the early 1900s.” Skating quickly became a huge focus for the family, who would turn their house into a B&B in the summer months to earn extra cash for roller-skating lessons, sessions, costumes and trips for Debby and her two brothers. Debby reached national level in the sport and went on to train as a judge when she was older. “It was another world where you could switch off from all your worries,” she explains. “Skating is about freedom. It’s about being in your own world and being able to express yourself through music. Also, it was a way to face some of my own fears by performing in front of hundreds of people.”

No Show

The portraits are truly arresting and manage to feel very current as well as nostalgic of a time gone by. Debby wanted to create a visual contrast by removing the skaters from the ‘show’ of the rink and instead using the background of a domestic situation. She says: “I think the images have a slightly surreal quality, showing the girls in their performance clothes out of context, with the dissonance between the domestic setting, highlighting the balance between growing up as a teenager and the dedication and commitment required to become a professional sportsperson.”

The project was a collaborative effort in which Debby spent a lot of time with the skaters and their families. Not only do the portraits document the girls’ skating lives, they show the girls growing up into young sportswomen. Debby says of the photographic process: “I’d ask the girls if they could think about a skating moment when they were really happy, whether it was seeing friends or winning a competition. I wanted them to re-enact it through a pose or their gaze and I think it helped to make them feel comfortable in their bodies.

“Once they got used to me, they knew what I wanted. All of a sudden, they would just put their arms up in the air or pose and hold it. I wanted the photos to be about them, projecting what they want people to see, not just what I was seeing through the lens.” And setting the pictures at home really gets across how important roller skating is to the girls and their families and how it is woven into the fabric of their lives. “I think the interiors speak so much about the process. It was all about the girls’ identity, and I really think that shines through. Quite often, I’d arrive and the parents would be rushing around to tidy up and shoving stuff under the bed. I always said I was fine with whatever they wanted because it was really important for everyone to feel happy, but actually the tidiness really worked for me because it emphasised the skaters more than the backdrops.” Debby says one of her favourite shots is of Molly: “I love the one of her standing on a bedside table in a white bedroom with pink curtains. We were talking about how great it would be to have a rostrum in your bedroom and I love how theatrical this shot is. It’s like she’s standing on a mini stage looking poised and powerful.”

In A Spin

The second part of Debby’s project was to capture each skater on a video camera at 200 frames per second. She wanted to show what a skater looks like at high speed, when they’re jumping. “When you’re skating, all of a sudden, you don’t hear the music anymore. It’s like a void. It’s like your moment and you’re totally engrossed. You’re taking off and then you’re thinking about landing and that rotation in the air – for those two, three or maybe four seconds – is a very private moment.”