These pictures were taken at the 2023 Isle of Man TT, a near-annual motorcycle race that takes place on a punishing and unpredictable road stretching 37.73 miles across the island. The elegant specificity and happy balance of that number – 37.73, a seemingly harmonious length – contradicts the chaos of the route: the wildness, the peril around each corner, the 219 turns that could promise glory, transcendence or the smash of metal, the sting as flesh is grazed away, the hot engine burning grass, the sparks of light, the memories, the hopes, the silence, the end.
Since the earliest version of the race in 1907, more than 150 people have died taking part in the Isle of Man TT. Some 100 more have lost their lives on that same exact stretch, the Snaefell Mountain Course, while undertaking other races. Spectators and officials have also died, many having crossed the Irish sea to reach the small, rugged island.
Words by
@loustoppard
Please join Robbie Lawrence and I
@polycopies on Thursday 13th at 6pm at the
@truephotojournal table as we launch MANN - a limited edition print publication -
@robbeil1 - Many thanks to Lou for her incredible essay
