Art Militant: Trecy Wuattier on Finding Belonging and Beauty in Sports Photography

Trecy Wendy Wuattier mainly grew up in France in an interfaith and interracial family to a French-Catholic father and Muslim mother from Tunisia. “I grew up in what is basically called the Bronx in France - the equivalent of the Bronx but also Paris. As a child I was into creativity, arts, performances which led me into studying fashion, mainly art direction, and I was looking at clothing and costume as a way of communicating stories,” she recollects as she ponders on her early years working as a designer. Until recent years, when she began a photojournalistic journey in image making. “I realized that a lot of my values didn’t align with the world of design, at least as it is now.”

Wuattier‘s exploration into the art of photography has led to pit stops of focusing on portraiture, street photography, and even a quick stint in the music business working with different artists and producers but she ultimately found a home with sports in the early 2020s.

Trecy quotes when asked what motivates her, “I’m always trying new things. When you experience my work, what you see in my style is me challenging my work and my brain—I’m always looking to evolve whether technically or methodically. What’s important to me is that every time I shoot, I’m successfully transmitting something to others, not only through the output of my images but I’m looking to transfer the knowledge one can use to believe in themselves.”

Trecy’s ever evolving eye has led her to work with many top level athletes like Jayson Tatum, Shaquille O’Neal, the Wembanyama siblings along with many more current pioneers of the game. “Players are a good vector for my message of inspiration and humbleness. They allow the spirit of resilience and flair to speak through my images. What truly matters is that everyone who comes together around a project with me wants to create these stories of beauty - it’s just something about the warmth of being around your kind of people.”

Trecy embraces the challenge of growing every day as a storyteller with evolution at the forefront of creating while dealing with some of the natural obstacles of working with athletes, like tight production times or operating on separate sets due to player location and their vigorous, meticulous schedules. When not producing her own images, Wuattier works as a photographer on The Break, ESPN+ series for the G League that follows three standout players throughout the season, documenting the off and on hours of players who share the same goal—a seat at the table on the biggest stage, the NBA. She recalls a moment from production of the latest series, juggling the pressures of having all three players in one place, for the first time in the series’ history, AND only having eleven minutes to operate with them all on set.

With a broad range of assignments in the sports world, Trecy is able to achieve a variety of looks from deeply contrasted intimate portraits to moody action shots from in-game moments. A portfolio of behind the scenes footage where athletes can be captured during times of vulnerability allow human moments with her subjects to gain more perspective of who the subject is outside of their commitment to the sport. The shared challenges motivate Trecy working around the season schedule of different players.Whether her purpose is for corporate assets or for the sake of her own productivity, the talent photographer must perfectly insert into the player's workout, game and family schedule often forcing production to be slightly reduced. Her natural approach calms the room as she allows her fashion background to assist in the process, leading shoots with hand drawn scenarios ready to be recreated and produced for the world.

Recently, Trecy was able to see her work amplified internationally in places like New York, Tokyo, and Berlin for Adidas’ Z.N.E. lookbook with director Jocelyn Hu, another artist revolutionizing the idea of how we see athletes. She goes on record when referring to Adidas saying she *“*wanted to create a piece that would spark the idea of community and interconnectivity within sports” and so far, she has.