QUEERBALL, 2022-, Thompson Gallery, SJSU + Steps Cafe, SF MOMA

QUEERBALL, 2022-, signed by the SJSU Women's Basketball Team (1/10), 9.23 in. diameter / Photo credit: Susan Harding

An extension of my Wall of Song ‘Feeling Good’ project, QUEERBALL is a custom, limited edition basketball celebrating and advocating for women’s sports and the 50th Anniversary of Title IX—particularly for non-binary and transgender athletes. Signed by the San José State Women’s Basketball Team each year since 2022, this series exists as a durational, limited-edition object, participatory installation, 360 video, and photo-based work. QUEERBALL developed out of my Wall of Song project collaborations with sports scholar Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique, the renowned SJSU Institute for the Study of Sport, Society and Social Change, and over two dozen community partners from 2019-2022.

Originally conceived as an interactive installation in Wall of Song’s exhibition at the Natalie & James Thompson Gallery at SJSU in 2022, QUEERBALL was recently shown as a photo-based work at the SF MOMA Steps Cafe “Fan Art” show—an extension of SFMOMA’S ‘Get in the Game’ exhibition.

Photo-based work exhibited at Steps Cafe, SFMOMA
Fan Art: Bay Area Sports
October 10, 2024–April 15, 2025

In conjunction with the exhibition Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, SFMOMA put out a call for original fan-made artworks that celebrated the people and culture of Bay Area sports. On Sep 1, 2024, artists and sports fans were invited to bring in artworks for a one-day display in SFMOMA’s Koret Education Center. Artist David Huffman then selected 29 works as finalists to be displayed for this installation in Steps Coffee.