“A question I am often asked is: ‘Do you play tennis?’ I do not.” Connor Daly (b. 1994) is a Jersey-born photographer who started the Courts series whilst living in Hackney, London. “I happened to visit an indoor tennis court in Stratford, which ultimately kickstarted the project. I contacted over 30 tennis clubs across the UK to ask permission to photograph their interior courts, of which only a few granted access.”
The resulting images are otherworldly. They depict liminal spaces where lurid green, blue and purple shapes emerge from stark black backgrounds, delineated by bright white borders. It’s easy to get lost in each frame; the normal markers of “up” and “down” are removed and the pictures are abstracted from any context. Viewers can’t help but ask the unnerving question: what is sequestered in the darkness?
“The series looks beyond the objective functionality of these spaces and closely examines the interior spatial layouts of each court,” Daly explains. “The precise use colour, geometry and design in these spaces lends itself to this type of ‘deadpan’ or ‘straight’ style of photography, a style which has become synonymous with my work.” Readers might also be reminded of the 20th century New Objectivity or New Topographics movements, which emphasised impassive observation and careful composition.
All images courtesy Connor Daly
1. Court XIII, 2021
2. Court IV, 2019
3. Court III, 2021
4. Court XI, 2021
5. Court VII, 2019
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