Warning: Do Not Skate on Unexploded Missiles – Noosa Regional Gallery
Noosa Regional Gallery Director Michael Brennan curates a powerful, world-first exhibition exploring the power of skating as an expression of freedom and hope.
How do you write an arts editorial for a lifestyle magazine when the subject of that editorial is the activities of a group of people whose ‘lifestyle’ is defined by famine, destruction and a constant threat of annihilation? Perhaps skip past this story if you prefer your arts writing to be about vibrant colours and idyllic landscapes…
I first became aware of Gaza Skate Team earlier in the year through their Instagram account. The first video I saw hit hard. Like most of us (I assume), my feed was spattered with a constant stream of the devastation and carnage coming out of Palestine. Much of this was quite graphic.
Then, in amongst it was this image – a young man, Rajab Al Reefi, standing on a skateboard atop an unexploded missile surrounded by rubble.
Tentatively, the man’s foot pressed down on the tail of the board, bouncing it off the hard steel surface, his other foot sliding its length and launching it into the air before landing back on the bomb – heart in mouth. It was equal parts compelling and chilling.
Diving further into the account, I was completely transfixed by both the story and the images of this small group of young men dedicated to bringing some sense of joy and hope to the children of Gaza by giving them free skating lessons against the backdrop of the bombardment of their homes.
The images show them holding the hands of young boys and girls as they helped them coast across spaces they’d cleared of debris, tents and ruins in the near distance. Peppered through these were images of the young men using skating as their own way to negotiate the fractured space, jumping smashed pylons and rolling down fallen slabs.
For them, skating is an expression of freedom, as well as a push back against the authorities deciding how you use a space or place.
In a local context, that plays out in Noosa with ‘no skating’ signs in civic centres and car parks, with dedicated skate parks relegating the activity to a place deemed ‘appropriate’ – and generally out of the way.
In Gaza, it’s both a desperate attempt to find joy in an impossible situation, as well as a declaration of agency – a reclamation of a place that has been destroyed by an invading force. Brings new meaning to the ‘skate or die’ philosophy.
I felt compelled to share the heartfelt humanity of their project to remind us of the scale of the devastation and trauma they’re dealing with to do it. It was unlikely that I’d be able to contact them directly, even less likely that we could arrange an exhibition of their photos and videos here in Noosa, yet here we are.
Alongside the gripping Gaza Skate Team exhibition, celebrated Australian artist Shuan Gladwell has loaned a copy of his seminal video work, Storm Sequence, for a rare showing outside major institutions.
The slow-motion video captures the artist spinning on his own skateboard on a concrete ledge in front
of a storm-soaked Bondi Beach. A tale of two worlds.
And the story of skating’s local context is told in another group of works brought together by artist and curator, Warwick Gow. Refuse explores the mythology of a secret Sunshine Coast skate spot and the quest of locals to find it and skate it.
Try telling them where they can and can’t skate.
Get on Board
Don’t miss this engaging and heartfelt exhibition. Free entry.
13 December 2025 – 22 February 2026
Gaza Skate Team
Shaun Gladwell: Storm Sequence
Refuse, curated by Warwick Gow
28 February – 19 April
ANDREW HILLHOUSE: SOLO EXHIBITION
Noosa Regional Gallery | Riverside, 9 Pelican Street, Tewantin
Tuesday – Friday 10am – 4pm | Saturday & Sunday 10am – 3pm
