Sharon Lockhart's Goshogaoka Girls Basketball Team

In Sharon Lockhart’s 1997 image, Goshogaoka Girls Basketball Team Group #1, the viewer is engrossed by the clear, hard-edged collection of four photographs, each depicting young girls decked out in blue and red jerseys participating in a simple game of basketball. Arms out, playfully shoving, and cheering sets the scene. Lockhart utilizes harsh lighting and colors which consequently depict the innocence budding from young girls, even while playing a game of basketball. In a series of four photographs, Lockhart tugs on the viewer’s heartstrings as the air is filled with doe eyed, genuine excitement and the underlying sense of awkwardness and confusion.

Cool-toned, bright lighting highlights the vulnerability. Lockhart emphasizes the glowing

skin and lightly sculpts the cheeks to seamlessly blend the stage between girls and young women. With flushed cheeks and shining foreheads, the girls seem to embrace the brightness beaming from their smiling faces. Erasing the ages of these young girls, erasing the background of these young girls, erasing the ethnicity of these young girls, simply engaging in an enjoyable game of basketball is enjoyable, as shown by the lighting, which is brighter on the girls and darker in the background. By doing so, Lockhart builds this sense of childlike vulnerability, and showcases the simple pleasures surrounding the girls.
Playing a game of basketball relies on building a team effort.

Whether red or blue, the colors don’t depict a divide between the girls, but rather friendly competition. Lockhart embraces the cool blue and vibrant red in the girl’s jerseys, as it remains one of the focal points. The black shorts act as an aid for the stronger colors, as do the white t-shirts underneath the jerseys. The second photograph (top right) even goes as far to utilize the white socks and shoes, again providing a helping hand for the brighter red she is cloaked in. With the contrast in colors, one’s eyes are directly drawn to the brightness of the jerseys, and then to the innocent faces of the girls

themself.
The viewer is seeing the image head on, with only two of the four pictures tightly framed. The magnification of the lens on the first image (top left) is used to emphasize the physicality of the games, detailing the joyous expressions of the girls. With a tighter frame like that, the viewer is transported onto the court, relishing in the entertainment. The fourth photo (bottom right), one of the most striking images, has the tightest frame. In this close up of one of the girls, the side profile is made to blur the lines between maturity and childishness. The severity of the light carves out her cheekbone, extenuating the elegance and sophistication, whereas the biting of her bottom lip brings out the innocence. While playing with light and colors is key in obtaining the perfect photograph, paying close attention to framing has the ability add something nostalgic.
While Lockhart started out using cinematography as her medium, the simple acts that go unnoticed by individuals always drew her in (“Sharon Lockhart”).

As an outsider, watching a scrimmage might not bring any enjoyment, but to Lockhart something as simple as children playing basketball, provides a window into a new artistic opportunity. The organic movements captured in Lockhart’s photographs, as simple as they may be, seem natural. In reality the girls were told to act out poses of professional Japanese women’s basketball games. As a viewer, the variety of poses may look normal, but Lockhart wanted to emphasize the vulnerability, innocence, and awkwardness of youthfulness, showing that something which initially radiates confidence and bravery can slowly change under a keen

eye.
But why not photograph girls playing with dolls or dressing up in their pink, fluffy tutus? Not only is this photograph an homage to professional women’s basketball players, but a step in the right direction for any and all societies chained down by gender stereotypes. It’s easy to normalize the NBA, being all male basketball teams, because of the physicality, but often forget about the WNBA who start off with a salary of $50,000 and their male counterparts start at $560,000 (Dickler). It’s easy to question these pictures, because the girls don’t fit a certain normality in our society. It’s easy to separate girls and boys, because they can’t possibly enjoy the same activities.
Lockhart chooses to capture the vulnerability. Staring through the lens of a current woman for future women, she portrays the innocence wrapped up in young girls as they enjoy the simple things in life. Not worrying about outside opinions. Not worrying about gender stereotypes. Not worrying about the rocky road of life. Not worrying about anything, but making that perfect basket.

Works Cited
Dickler, Jessica. “This WNBA Superstar Earns Just 20% of an NBA Player's Salary.” CNBC, CNBC, 3 Oct. 2017, www.cnbc.com/2017/10/03/this-wnba-superstar-earns-just-20-percent-of-an-nba-players-salary.html. Accessed 14 March 2018
“Sharon Lockhart.” Guggenheim, www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/sharon-lockhart. Accessed 14 March 2018