Esmaa Mohamoud Canadian, b. 1992
Heavy, Heavy (Hoop Dreams), 2016
Solid concrete
120 x 120 in
304.8 x 304.8 cm
304.8 x 304.8 cm
8032
Further images
Heavy Heavy (Hoop Dreams) was the first work that Mohamoud produced to initiate her exploration of sports, consisting of 60 semi-unique concrete-cast deflated basketballs. Mohamoud was inspired by the 1994...
Heavy Heavy (Hoop Dreams) was the first work that Mohamoud produced to initiate her exploration of sports, consisting of 60 semi-unique concrete-cast deflated basketballs. Mohamoud was inspired by the 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams, which follows two young men in Chicago hoping that basketball could be their ticket to escape poverty. The material metaphor is brutally self-evident: the dreams are deflated, impossibly heavy, fragile, and impractical. Every ball is unique because the casting process is imperfect, but they're all alike in their attempt to emulate a common goal. Mohamoud's stance on the topic is not meant to be critical of the dreamers, but critical of the social systems under which the that dream seems like the only viable path to a stable, productive life. The melancholic grey, industrial concrete balls present an impossible Sisyphean task for a player who would need to approach playing—a condemnation of the system which offers little opportunity to Black men in particular.