Tara Mateik
Putting the Balls Away
2006-8
DVD projection with sound, wood platform
covered with Astroturf, white paint, 2 C-prints
Courtesy the artist

September 20, 1973: A television audience of 48 million people watched a tennis match in the Houston Astrodome between women’s tennis star Billie Jean King and retired men’s champion Bobby Riggs. Dubbed the Battle of the Sexes, the match sparked a nationwide conversation about women’s rights and gender roles when King pulled off a handy victory over her opponent.

Artist Tara Mateik performs the roles of both Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean
King, switching between male and female identities, in this re-enactment
of the original Battle of the Sexes.

<– Back to Optimism home page