It began with an assignment to photograph sports, not with a fascination for violence, but with a simple desire: to document something unique, to capture something beyond the familiar stadiums and repetitive plays. My search led me away from the mainstream and into the world of professional wrestling. I found a realm with a massive contrast between in-ring personas and real-life people, which I found fascinating.
It was at an independent show that the true direction revealed itself. Meeting performers like "Hardcore" Dick Greco and Will Carroll, "The Outsider” shifted my focus entirely. I learned about deathmatch, I traveled, often across state lines, with the wrestlers, and I started to learn about deathmatch.
Deathmatch is undeniably one of the most brutal forms of performance art. At its heart, it taps into the oldest story: good versus evil. But where traditional wrestling often implies violence, deathmatch is real violence. Razor blades, thumbtacks, barbed wire, and shattered fluorescent light tubes are the tools of a unique, unflinching form of storytelling. As Will Carroll notes, the connection is undeniable: “The audience may not know what it’s like to be clotheslined, but they know what it’s like to step on glass. That’s why this violence connects.” The pain is relatable, the blood undeniably real, and it takes a very real toll on the body.
