Tom Knox - Hidden in Plain SightThe new Atlantic Drift part from...
Tom Knox - Hidden in Plain Sight
The new Atlantic Drift part from Tom Knox is being widely celebrated. There is a lot in the video that invites scrutiny and a closer look. My initial response was that it was cerebral, like last year’s Verso, but also wisely understated. Tom Knox is lauded for his quick technical lines at spots that many would pass by without a second thought. The video plays on this theme deliberately showing multiple locations in their banal everyday setting. We see these spots as they are viewed by pedestrians, passersby. On a couple of occasions we see Tom gazing at them, perhaps thinking about what he plans to do there.
After each of these shots of the spots in their unskated state we then flick to a typically skate angle. The camera is close to the ground, or tilted up to a rooftop or wall. Then we see how Tom has incorporated the spot into a line.
This plays on the notion of ‘skater’s eye’, a term first used in published work in an early issue of Thrasher. It appears in a short work of fiction where a dead skater’s eyes are donated to a non-skateboarding girl. She begins to see the world in new ways, becoming distracted by painted curbs and swimming pools. The idea of the ‘skater’s eye’ plays on the notion, that skateboarders see the world differently. Alike shamans, they are able to journey to an alternative realm and imagine possibilities unintended in the original design and construction of urban space. As Sean Wilsey states, ‘skateboarding is bringing emotion to emotionless terrain.’ This is precisely what Tom Knox does, he brings emotion, magic, and love to unloved places. The catalogue of shots I have compiled from the video are mundane London locations. Far from the Californian mystique of a skate utopia. It is like Tom Knox is doing missionary work, faithfully showing that London is skateable. He ardently skates his home surroundings, teaching us, like a prophet finding a spring of water in the desert.
The video also operates as a book end to Tom’s other parts filmed by Jacob Harris. He is seen mopping a mirror just as he was shown mopping the street in the Isle video Vase. Again, subtly, in his Vase part the location of his ender is shown void of skateboarding at the very start, before we even see him with the mop. The new video also makes a nod to the first Atlantic Drift episode where Tom is introduced posing in front of some multicoloured circular neon lights. The same lights are shown again but this time crediting Jacob Harris. So, the part becomes a homage to all the previous collaborations, citing them, paying respects, just as respect is paid to Ben Raemers, and Tom’s siblings. This is all neatly brought together in the video ‘Out There: Tom Knox’ from earlier this year. Truly, it is a companion piece.
So, it is a remarkable and reassuring video. A triumph and validation. If skateboarding is overcoming adversity, expressing yourself, and testing your creativity, this video shows just that. So much potential hidden in plain sight.
