world’s greatest: athlete portrait
A unique collaboration between Olympic athlete Natoya Goule and NYC-based celebrity graffiti artist Sen2 (Sandro Figueroa Garcia) that celebrates their shared dedication to their respective crafts, “A Portrait Of An Athlete” is conceived, actualized and directed by Ataboy’s Corydon “Cordy” Wagner. With this series, Wagner aimed to create impactful pieces of content inspired by his love of both sports and art, which led him to World’s Greatest, an original video content platform specializing in content of, by and for the world’s greatest athletes, founded by leading advertising creative alum Bob Ciosek. With World’s Greatest on board, Wagner then tapped Sen2 to create the portrait, documenting his process through film.
“What’s most exciting to us about creating this series of films is the fusion between the dedication and hard work of athletics and art,” Wagner explains. “There’s a deep similarity between the two, despite them being different passions. On some level, you give everything to it. And beyond this single story, we’re planning an entire series of portraits for athletes by beloved artists. Through this, we’re hoping to create different partnerships, bring awareness to charities that are important to these athletes, and overall celebrate the art of athleticism.”
With over 10 years of experience directing commercials all over the world for brands like GAP, Sony, Samsung, and Microsoft, Wagner is drawn to finding the deeply human side of any story. As a director, he believes that there is no such thing as a “small story” — even the personal can be heroic. Wagner works across a wide range of mediums including commercials, short films, music videos, and documentary — the A Portrait Of An Athlete series being the latest of his efforts to artfully document many different subjects.
To take this collaboration with World’s Greatest even further, the brand will launch a limited edition Natoya Goule x Sen2 hoodie featuring the portrait to accompany the series. The hoodie will be available for purchase through various channels as well as at Sen2’s upcoming pop up store in Stamford, CT. Ataboy is also partnering with blockchain-based customer experience platform DropYacht to turn the hoodie into an exclusive NFT. Additionally, one of the inaugural videos of the series, “My Mother’s Eyes”, was a Documentary: Shortform honoree at the 2023 Webby Awards.
Downloads
Credits
Featured Talent: Natoya Goule & Sen2 Figueroa
Executive Producer: Vikkal Parikh
Executive Producer: Gianni Cerretani at Two Of Us
Director: Corydon Wagner
DOP: Henry Zaballos
Steadicam Operator: Geoffrey Jean-Baptiste
Second Camera: Isaac Berner
Gaffer: Jimi Jones
Producers: Meghana Murthy & Julia Lewis
Story Producers: Aaron Himelstein & Shai Ben-Dor VFX: Perry Kroll
GFX: Ridvan Maloku
Sound Design: Weston Fonger at Yessian Music
Editor for “Limited Edition Hoodie”: Jeremy Baumann
GFX for “Limited Edition Hoodie”: Ridvan Maloku
Editor for “My Mother’s Eyes”: Shai Ben-Dor
GFX for “My Mother’s Eyes”: Ben Gabelman
Social Media
Facebook / AtaboyStudios
Twitter / @ataboystudios
Instagram / @ataboystudios
Corydon “Cordy” Wagner / @corydon4 Gianni Cerretani / Gianni Cerretani
Sen2 Figueroa / @sen2figueroa
Natoya Goule / @natoya_goule_oly
About Ataboy
With strong emphasis on visual storytelling, Ataboy crafts rich experiences combining animation, live action, and motion design. By fostering great ideas into impactful pieces of bite-sized content, we are committed to creating captivating narratives that engage and entertain our audiences.
About Two Of Us
Two Of Us is a London based TV commercial boutique production company established in 2014. We concentrate on creative international campaigns that leave a lasting impression on global audiences.
About World’s Greatest
Every two years we are riveted to the Olympic Games, inspired by the incredible feats and compelling stories of amazing athletes. Just because the games are over doesn’t mean the Olympians’ stories have ended. Our emotional connection to them is just beginning.
Our video content platform is of, by and for the World’s Greatest athletes and their fans.
We celebrate the personality and spirit of our athletes outside of the Olympics and traditional sports competitions; from funny and entertaining videos to intriguing bios and documentaries to travel, food and culture content as well as how-to/training tutorials — all featuring the World’s Greatest athletes. We produce original series for television, OTT, digital and social distribution; all guided, focused and inspired by our proprietary research, “Olympian Connection Points Study”. With over 700,000 data points, we’re able to match the right Olympian to the right content on the right platform with the right brand. All content is built for brand sponsorship, brand integration and original branded content. We are a powerful marketing platform for brands as well. We share net revenue 50/50 with our athletes.
About Natoya Goule
Natoya is an Olympic middle-distance runner who has represented Jamaica in the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. At the age of 12 she ran for Manchester High School and holds records in the Girls’ Class 1 1500m and Class 3 800m. She won an accumulated 15 individual gold medals at the Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championships and 12 individual gold medals at the CARIFTA Games. After graduating high school she ran for a few different college track teams: South Plains College, Louisiana State University, and Clemson. Post College she continued to run and continued to see success. She placed first in the 2019 Pan American Games 800m. She placed 25th in the 2016 Rio Olympics 800m and 8th in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics 800m. She continues to push herself to new heights with each race. Her best 800m time is 1:57.88.
About Sen2
Sen2, whose original name is Sandro Figueroa Garcia, is a Puerto Rican self taught graffiti writer and artist. Born in 1969, he grew up in Canteras, a rough neighborhood of Santurce, Puerto Rico. His work blurs the lines between graffiti and fine art. Since 2001, his artwork has been on display around the globe, exhibiting in numerous solo and group shows in America and Europe. In 2013, paintings of Sen2 were featured at one of the most important art fairs for contemporary art worldwide: Art Basel, Miami. Sen2 also created art for music videos, working with artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Nas, and Missy Elliot.
