Jim McMahon

These skateboarders in Bolivia have serious skills—and they’re using them to honor their Indigenous culture. The women belong to an all-female group called ImillaSkate. (Imilla means “girl” in Aymara and Quechua, the two most widely spoken Native languages in the country.) They celebrate their roots by skateboarding in polleras, the traditional layered skirts of their ancestors. More than half of Bolivia’s population is of Indigenous descent, but the skirts aren’t a common sight anymore because many of the nation’s Indigenous people stopped wearing their traditional clothing, including polleras, in recent decades to avoid discrimination. But the women of ImillaSkate don the skirts with pride. Daniela Santiváñez, who co-founded the group in 2019, says their goal is to celebrate their culture—and diversity in general. “By skating in polleras, we want to show that girls and women can do anything, no matter how you look or how people see you,” Santiváñez told reporters. “The message is to be yourself and be proud of who you are.”