Our stomachs ache from the multitude of giggles and bemusement; a long, tiring day uplifted by the sheer joy and charisma that is Luke Rapata (AMCK Models). Absorbed in the world of skateboarding, his passion is precariously on the edge of obsession. He talks about it with such enthusiasm. His belief in his skills so strong, without a falter, despite only just recently recovering from a nasty fall. He's itching, impatient to get back on his board again, but don't ever ask him for a game of cricket.
Absorbed and engrossed by his never ending charm and wit, you can imagine that he's definitely the kind of boy your mother hopes you'll bring home through the door one day. He's very much within the moment, forever young within each day. Refusing to neglect his childhood passions, yet holding onto his future desires with such certainty and determination. He knows where he's going and he possesses an initiative that is going to get him there. No time to sit around waiting for the future, instead charging at it with full speed.
Relationships today are not quite the same as they were before, and we tackle the tricky discussion of avoiding ex partners on social media and avoiding drunken phone calls. His warm energy manages to turn even the most delicate conversations into a delightful feast of hilarity. Immersed in the world of science, life's simple pleasures are exactly that. Luke's philosophy is to simply accept the world as it is.
How would you describe your generation?
Fucking hell, you start strong don’t you, haha? How would I describe our generation… complicated. I don’t know, I’m just trying to be deep. You might have had some really philosophical boys in already.
What are the good things?
I think everyone is a bit smarter than their parents were. On average, we are smarter than the majority that was 50 years ago, you can’t really deny that. Literacy and numeracy skills have been rising steadily. We’re good with technology, be it a good thing or not. I think our generation is quite liberal and open and, I can’t speak for a lot of people, but I think, as a whole, we are not very racist and we’re quite accepting of other people’s sexualities and stuff like that. Our generation is kind of the first one to be very; ‘everyone is cool’, with less discrimination and racism.
On the flip side, what do you think are the downsides?
Well, ‘cause there are so many people in the world, competition is really fierce, and living in London everything is expensive. You have all sorts of industry leaders here and people who are very well educated, so you’ve got to be really good to be the best in this generation. The standard on average is higher, it’s a lot more obvious in the capital.
You’ve lived in London since you were six years old, how do you think spending the majority of your childhood growing up here affected the way you are today?
Quite a lot actually. They’ve spent a lot on skate parks in the last 10 years in London, and that really pushed me into it with all the resources being here. It was so easy to get round as a kid with the tube and stuff, you have a lot of freedom to chose what you want to do, away from your parents, there’s always something to do. Yeah, it gave me a lot of freedom, to chose what I want to do rather than have to play football, because that’s the only thing to do in more suburban areas. Actually, in the suburb I lived, it would have been bloody cricket. Cricket. What kid wants to play cricket?
Your dad is half Māori, half Chinese and your mum in half English, half Finnish, how do you think that affected the way you were raised?
My dad’s parents are Mormons in the Mormon church. He had a very strict Mormon upbringing, so my dad was one of the brothers that didn’t want to be a part of that and left, and I think now he doesn’t want to do the whole strict religion parenting. My mum was a ballet dancer, and from the time she was 17 she was touring and was probably a bit wilder than other people her age. I feel like they’ve seen a lot and factor that in I think. They were very lenient with me growing up, but then really strict with my sister, which is weird. She couldn’t go to the shops till she was 14 or 15, and I was allowed to cycle around the park when I was 10. I think it was because there was a backlash from the teenage daughter going to Marylebone, there was a backlash that comes with that. I think it was damage control mainly.
...
Full interview available here.
Image taken from Boys by Girls, shot by Cecilie Harris.
No comments :
Post a Comment