Esmaa Mohamoud
B. 1992, London, Canada. Lives and works in Toronto.
Sculpture and installation artist Esmaa Mohamoud uses the universal appeal of sports to investigate racism, classism, and body politics. In her 2021 exhibition “To Play in the Face of Certain Defeat” at The Art Gallery of Hamilton, Mohamoud examined the commodification of the Black body within the sports profession and the ways the industry contributes to the oppression of marginalized people. Heavy, Heavy (Hoop Dreams) (2016) and One of the Boys (2017–19) focus specifically on basketball to confront economic inequality and sexism, respectively.
Mohamoud’s 2021 public installation Double Dribble, commissioned and presented by The Bentway in Toronto, transformed an expressway underpass into a reimagined version of a basketball court, confronting exclusionary practices based on race and class that prohibit playing in public spaces. Double Dribble—which takes its name from a term describing an illegal basketball move—discards any notion of rules or structure by multiplying, rescaling, and scattering court elements across the space. The installation invites participation and intervention while being critical of the ways revitalized public spaces aren’t intrinsically welcoming of marginalized peoples. With respectability politics in play, the wrong person milling about and bouncing a basketball might lead to an unjustified call to authorities, but in Double Dribble, the act of hanging out on the court is welcomed and honored.
