Post Up

Crochet cotton, solid maple, paint, steel
$3500 per basketball net and backboard

Through a series of textiles installed on metal rims and wooden backboards, Post Up reimagines the conventional basketball net through the intricate and domestic medium of crocheted lace.

Lacework and crochet have been integral to women’s creative expression, serving as profound forms of artistic craftsmanship that often went unrecognized within patriarchal systems. Like basketball, lace allows for creativity, improvisation, and skill within a structured arena. Drawing inspiration from historical lacework techniques and motifs, Mallory Tolcher designed each mesh to be meticulously handcrafted with white thread, to create intricate designs that play off the form and colour of a standard basketball mesh. By integrating these traditionally feminine practices into the hyper-masculine sport of basketball, she aims to confront ingrained perceptions of athletics, subvert the confined definition of softness in such contexts, and emphasize the power and strength that lies within femininity.