Whereas Hoops

Collaboration with Noah Cohan
2021 - ongoing

Whereas Hoops is an interdisciplinary work of scholarship, creative practice, and community engagement addressing the anti-Black racism underlying the absence of basketball courts in St. Louis’s 1,300-acre Forest Park.

The project began by publishing research on Instagram about the intersection of Forest Park, race,  basketball, and the broader sporting landscape of St. Louis. The project featured advocacy in the form of a custom-built, mobile basketball hoop that was brought to the park reguarly between 2021-2022, and an artist’s book distributed to local parks officials and elected representatives that told the story of basketball’s rich history in St. Louis, illustrated how the dynamics of race, class, and gender led to basketball’s absence from Forest Park, and called for the construction of basketball courts in the park on the grounds of spatial equity and racial justice.

In part due to the efforts of Whereas Hoops, outdoor basketball courts are scheduled to open in Forest Park in 2024.