The photographs are portraits of the wrestlers themselves who dress in costume for gala type events and summer sporting events in Cumbria and Northumbria. They wear beautifully embroidered vests, long johns and velvet trunks called a 'centre-piece'. The costumes are hand stitched producing beautiful rural floral designs that aim to emulate the wrestlers' rural heritage. Each costume is designed by the mother, girlfriend, or wife of the wrestler. Young boys, girls, teenagers, and older men and women wrestle. The sport is fascinating and the folk art produced is truly vernacular.
David Ellison studied at Blackpool and The Fylde College, graduating in 2006. After graduation moved to London training as assistant to Brian Griffin. Previously worked freelance for Telegraph Magazine and Sunday Times Magazine and has 50 prints in the private collection, Archive of Modern Conflict.
Selected by Emma Morris, Photoworks
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