Courtney Asztalos hangs out in casinos – watching and searching for women to photograph. Her women are older, mysterious and they radiate self possession. Femininity and youth are often bound so tightly together that the self presentation of Asztalos’ women becomes a powerful subversive act. Asztalos gets close with her camera and the the curious hues and bright flash expose every detail. We are allowed to look and while others may scrutinize or judge – I revel.

“Purple Domino, was formed through the physical investigation of casinos and the women who present themselves and orbit within these spaces. Photographed in New York, Nevada, and Florida, the idea of the casino is both mythical and accessible. I was drawn to the autonomy of these women, who, divorced from reality, became magnetic and exerted a great deal of visual force. The people in my photographs are chosen based on the way they perform in public; I am drawn to individuals who seem to channel the energy of the space and use it as a stage to amplify the performance of their imagined selves. Together we create an unacknowledged collaboration. A casino’s purpose is to transmit and imbue desire to and in everyone who enters. My subjects absorb and consume this radiating power of desire and pour it back into their performance of self, a reifying act: the construction of an armor which repels expectations and codes of femininity.” – Courtney Asztalo

View more of Courtney Asztalos’ work on her website.