Richard Mille

” Grit & Glory” stock car photo serie for Richard Mille book

In the world of stock car racing, who really writes the adventure, the driver or the car? This is the question that Ludovilk Myers seems to be asking in Grit & Glory, his series of images exploring the intense relationship between human and machine in this arena. Under the rain of flying mud, the battle against the elements takes shape and each image depicts the hard-fought efforts and all-consuming passion uniting the drivers and their cars. Amid this tumult, the brutal and spontaneous documentary approach used by Myers manages to capture the full reality of the engines, their thunderous roars resonating like the growls of famished beasts, ready to devour anything in their path. And yet, in this epic battle, the human side holds its ground. What seemed to be a machine poised to crush the driver at any moment turns out in the end to be his ally, and ultimately an extension of his own will. In this whirlwind of mechanical throbbing, it is the driver who triumphs, his human determination leaving in its wake a childlike nostalgia, as the paths taken by the road monsters unearth memories of frenetic races across the living room carpet. Text by Clara Lyachenko for Mars Amusement