Mallory Tolcher | The Fadeaway

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Mallory Tolcher, "Swoopes," 2023

digital photograph. Courtesy of the Artist, photo Michelle Delaney.

The iconic fadeaway jump shot in basketball is executed when the shooter gracefully and effortlessly glides away from the defender while still maintaining control of the ball. In The Fadeaway artist Mallory Tolcher captures the essence of this move by focusing attention on the history of women’s basketball. Through a series of photographs, sculptures, and textiles, Tolcher challenges gender stereotypes of women in sport and celebrates the rise and acceptance of professional women’s basketball. In the context of prescribed social gender roles, basketball was historically deemed too rough and cardiovascular for women. Despite these attitudes, women’s professional basketball has excelled. As the game has evolved, calls for equality, empowerment, and social justice have been amplified.

Through a series of re-imagined basketball jerseys, Tolcher engages with the idea of the fadeaway as a metaphor for the loss of knowledge about the history of women’s sport. As women started playing basketball in the early twentieth century, women’s roles in society were limited and prescriptive. Bloomers made of long and delicate materials were deemed acceptable attire for women’s sports jerseys in the early 1900s. In her re-examination of women in sport, Tolcher uses tulle, organza, ribbon, and satin to create a series of women’s basketball jerseys to reference the construction of basketball jerseys from this time. Some of her jerseys are fashioned as floor-length gowns and elaborate blouses to draw attention to the impractical fabric and designs of women’s jerseys in the past and as a reminder of how far women’s basketball has come in the acceptance of women in professional sport. She also plays with the conventions of fashion photography through a series of photographs that show her jerseys worn by female models that emphasize how youth, beauty, and ability are idealized in fashion media.

By integrating the numbers and name bars of the modern jersey with couture fashion and incorporating slogans from gender rights activism into her designs, Tolcher’s work highlights how far women’s basketball has come as a result of social justice movements. One jersey adorned with pink roses remembers Rose La Rose, an Indigenous child who attended a Residential School in Fort Shaw, Montana, in the early 1900s. La Rose’s all-Indigenous team had an undefeated record and a reputation for an “aggressive” style not seen in the women’s game before. Their play would earn the team an invitation to the third Olympic Games for an exhibition game in which they outclassed their competition. On another adaptation of the basketball jersey, Tolcher has printed “Support Women’s Sports” on a sheer fabric dress to reference the slogan famously worn by American basketball player Margaret Wade in the 1970s. As the women’s game has gained acceptance Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) legends have been outspoken about calls for social justice, leading the way for professional women’s sport leagues. Tolcher’s Social Justice Warm Up Jersey is a nod to the WNBA stars who wore the slogan “Change Starts with Us” on their jerseys in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Through The Fadeaway, Tolcher’s strategic choice of materials and re-positioning of key social justice messages offers a re-examination of women’s basketball and emphasizes how women have stepped up and often been first to speak up in the face of injustice and inequality. Her project celebrates overlooked histories and the women who were instrumental in bringing women’s basketball to today’s high level of professionalism and respect.