The Shot Clock Version

For queer hoopers who run the court like ritual

In 2018, the summer I moved to Brooklyn from Oakland, I started playing pickup basketball with a crew of queer friends, old and new. We called ourselves JV, a joke about skill level and an honest description of the energy on and off the court. We wanted a shirt, so I volunteered to design one.

Somewhere in the process, I kept coming back to Botticelli's Birth of Venus. I reimagined her as a singular figure, context melted away, an androgynous being elegantly lifting a basketball into a layup. I called it Joyful Venus. We started wearing it to pickup. Then strangers asked where they could get one. Then came Medusa Hoops. Then Lilith Balls.

It started on the blacktop, not in a gallery. Each drop imagines a Goddess not waiting to be painted, but stepping into the paint. The court is our temple, and these pieces forge every baller into legend.

From Canvas to Court

Each piece starts with a painting and a question: What would they do if they had the ball?

  • I. Source

    Find figures in the public domain whose presence still feels alive.

  • II. Reimagine

    Redraw them by hand until the figure feels built for movement, not a museum wall.

  • III. Make

    Print on heavyweight natural fibers, built to be worn hard and broken in.
Aerial view of Boston's South End neighborhood.

Where I'm Posted Up

Boston's South End

Based in Boston's South End, long home to queer culture and working artists. Raw local courts on one side. Curated galleries and indie art spaces on the other. The right neighborhood for Court Goddess to ask: Who gets to be a Goddess?

Find one for your ritual.

Every drop is limited. When a drop closes, it's archived.

SHOP JOYFUL VENUS (ENDS JULY 31)