Working closely together with Gabriella on each step in the process, we developed the visual concept and design of this crossover publication, which reads like a deeply intimate, joyous, raw and moving portrait of Gabriella and her surf community.

‘I Just Wanna Surf’ is a mix of a photobook, zine, and diary and captures the friction of finding one’s identity and community during the pandemic and post-George Floyd era in a sport dominated by white men. Angotti-Jones challenges the traditional surfing narrative by documenting Black women and non-binary surfers living the surfing lifestyle inspired by 1990s and early 2000s surf culture, while making it their own. The images juxtapose the joy of friendship and the refuge found in the ocean’s wilderness with the underlying racial tensions at the core of the Black American experience. With sensitivity and vulnerability, her text explores her experience with depression and the sense of peace brought by riding waves.