September 2013
Creating the playing field of our times.
This project has been inspired by 2 events and 2 people –
1. Visual Anthropologist, climber, and friend Zofia Reych began a blog a while ago – ‘Up That Rock’. As part of this she was regularly posting photos of women climbing on her facebook group ‘Girls Go Climbing Strong‘. My almost daily exposure to these images was a joy and it was so refreshing to have the strong brave athletic accomplishments of women normlaised in my daily exposure to media. For this, I thank you Zof!
2. Dr. Alisa LeBow who was one of my PhD supervisors, a massive influence and support, has been commenting on the recent events in Turkey, a subject she holds dear to her heart. A passing comment resonated deeply. She asked for footage of the demonstrations to be forwarded to an archive as part of documenting the resistance. “Videos will be made. History will be written.”
In the current ‘age of athletisiscm – parkour, freerunning, l’art de deplacement, movnat, buildering, climbing and more – we are all responsible for writing and creating these histories. Who participates has nothing to do with biology/genetics, it is more closely linked to social factors and issues of economics, cultural tradition and heritage, and the role of government and institutionalisation.
It is my aim within this project to regularly share images of women who are doing things they love that happen to involve facing fears, being brave, getting strong and taking risks. Will this make a difference, will anything happen, I dont know. I have always worked in male dominated industries – filmmaking, photography and sports – if I wasn’t such a stubborn badass with a strong resolve, brought up to question authority at all levels, and exposed to strong female role models then who knows…
