BOUILLÈRE Simon

Roulage

2023

For drift pilots, “roulage” (literally, “rolling”) refers to the training, the physical, mental and mechanical preparation. Drift is a motorsport where the aim is to control the vehicle and make it slide from one side of the track to the other.

This series focuses on what lies around drifting, before and after the determinant moment of the race. This is a matter of teamwork, continuing a craft know-how and using the machines as a means of expression. It’s the story of women and men who partake in this popular culture, still little known in France. These pictures are a breath amid the noise and speed, an omniscient tale of personal facture between distance and intimacy, a story where bodies and engines embrace. This questions the place motorsports have in an era when environmental issues in technology are omnipresent for engineers. Drifting is not just a sport; it is also a social activity.

About the artist

Born in 1996, Simon Bouillère is a French photographer based in Arles. He has a master’s degree in history and currently studies at the École nationale supérieure de photographie in Arles. His work focuses mainly on the relationship people have with their environment through popular practices, whether individual or collective.