Canadian sculptor Esmaa Mohamoud displays her “One of the Boys” series: a collection of reimagined basketball jerseys into luxurious gowns with corset bodices and floor-length skirts. These works highlight not only how sports and fashion go hand in hand but also the underrepresentation of women in sports. “Sports and Spectator” provides a blend of stories […]
Canadian sculptor Esmaa Mohamoud displays her “One of the Boys” series: a collection of reimagined basketball jerseys into luxurious gowns with corset bodices and floor-length skirts. These works highlight not only how sports and fashion go hand in hand but also the underrepresentation of women in sports.
“Sports and Spectator” provides a blend of stories that captures the attention of sports fanatics and art enthusiasts alike. It portrays the parallels between sports and society and how the two mimic each other on various scales. Audiences are sure to exit the exhibit with a newfound appreciation for storytelling.
“I always wore jerseys, and one day, I came downstairs, and my mom said, ‘if you want to play outside, you’ve got to put on a dress,’” Mohamoud said, recalling her childhood experience that inspired her work.
“I see my basketball blooms as storytellers-traces of at least 20 games, countless hands, layered conversations, and the dust of their surroundings, holding the memory of movement and shared experience,” Donahue-Shipp said.
The exhibit includes pieces from artists such as Sophi Inard and Betsy Odom who use practices such as crochet and butch craft respectively to reclaim and redefine male-dominated imagery and techniques into artistically representative pieces that challenge gender roles in sports. Accompanying them are Brian Jungen and Jeffry Gibson who use their art to blend Indigenous crafting techniques and materials into the world of sports to celebrate indigenous cultures and address issues of exclusion and consumption.
The McNay Art Museum opened a new installation titled “Sports and Spectator” from March 1 to July 27. The exhibit was organized by Head of Curatorial Affairs Renè Paul Barilleaux and Curator of Exhibitions, Laureen Thompson.“Sports and Spectator” showcases the work of 10 contemporary artists who transformed sports gear and equipment into captivating works of art, expressing their various perspectives on the world of sports and its many social impacts. Together, the artists created an immersive experience for art and sports fans alike that tells all kinds of stories addressing masculinity, identity, race and pop culture.
“We critique things we love. We critique things that we care about. We critique things that we want to change for the better,” said Thomas.
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Oftentimes the spectacle of sports can overshadow the many small impactful stories. From Memphis, Tennessee, visual artist Brandon J. Donahue-Shipp presented various captivating and emotional pieces of work in his “Bloom” series and his piece titled “Coach’s Playbook,” in which he addresses systematic inequality. In the “Blooms Series,” Donahue-Shipp repurposes retired sporting equipment, converting deflated basketballs and footballs into sculptured floral arrangements, symbolizing the unfulfilled dreams of boys like him, who dreamed of careers in professional sports. In a similar take on broken dreams, Donahue-Shipp’s “Coach’s Playbook” presents what appear to be basketball plays; however, closer attention to detail will uncover plays drawn onto the layout of a courtroom floor plan. In this piece, Donahue-Shipp critiques the game-like nature of the U.S. judicial system.
