Canadian Photographer Turns the Races into Art

The Canadian photographer Kourtney Roy’s latest exhibition depicts a day at the races. The series, titled ‘Ils Pensent Déjà Que Je Suis Folle’ is currently on display at the Le Bal museum in Paris.

Each year the museum partners with a local chain of betting bars and a jury selects a photographer’s work on the theme of gambling.
When talking about her inspiration for the series, Roy said, “I had already spent lots of time at the races. I would usually go by myself and drink and smoke and lose money.”

Roy said that she sought out vacant spaces at the races such as drab walls, rows of seats and tiled floors. She them used bright clothes and artificial plants to inject life into the photos.

Roy said that she’s attracted to “the kitsch, the trashy … I think within the banality lies some poetic truth.” However, the pictures are also intriguing, Roy features as both the photographer and the subject as a series of retro femme fatales.

Each photo has had Roy’s body carefully cropped so viewers can just see a glimpse of forearms or calves, never her face.

Roy was born in Ontario and completed her fine arts education in Vancouver.