New exhibit showcases female athletes

By Lisa Porter

The new exhibit at the de Saisset Museum features glorious triumph, agonizing defeat, obstacles overcome and empowered females all wrapped into one in an effort to combat common under-representation of female athletes in America sports publications.

Beginning today, students can view the free exhibition, titled "Game Face: What Does a Female Athlete Look Like," at the de Saisset Museum. The exhibition contains 139 images of female athletes, both amateur and professional, of all ages and ethnicities.

The images were collected by the husband and wife team Jane Gottesman and Geoffrey Biddle. According to Karen Kienzle, the curator of exhibits and collections, Gottesman became disillusioned by the lack of coverage of female athletes.

Her years spent at the San Francisco Chronicle as a sports reporter brought her to this realization, and after conducting a study of Sports Illustrated covers and women, she concluded coverage of empowered female athletes is hard to come by.

The coverage Gottesman found of women on the cover of Sports Illustrated was largely attributed to extreme oversexualization (as displayed by the annual swimsuit edition) or as a result of scandal or controversy.

Biddle and Gottesman collected images from photographers around the world and then compiled and arranged them in five categories: getting ready, start, action, finish and aftermath.

"One of the goals of game face is to show that sports is a metaphor," Kienzle.

"The show is organized in a way that is intended to be a metaphor for life stages, life processes, problem solving and even if you're not an athlete you can understand that we all go through these processes."

Kienzle said the exhibition is not just meant for female athletes. Anyone, non-athletes and men alike, can come to the exhibition and relate to the triumphs, struggles, and emotions that the women in the photos display.

Kienzle added that the definition of sport is even called into question by the photographs. Dancers, children playing catch, and other activities that may not necessarily be classified as sports are featured.

Gottesman has also written a book with the same title as the exhibition in conjunction with the success of the show. Along with all of the images present in the exhibition, there are stories from many athletes, as well as non-athletes, and their stories about their experience with sports. And on the cover: Santa Clara graduate Brandi Chastain's famous image taken after she scored the game-winning penalty kick in the 1999 women's World Cup and ripped off her shirt.

Chastain is a connection that Kienzle suggests helped in bringing the exhibition to Santa Clara.

Kienzle added that not only is her image pivotal in the exhibition, but since it was decided that the exhibition would travel to this campus, Chastain has been highly involved in ensuring its success.

She participated in the opening of the reception on Oct. 11, is featured in an Ethics at Noon discussion on Oct. 17 and involved Bay Area Sports Initiative (BASI), an organization that she has recently worked with.

BASI and other women's organizations are coordinating with Santa Clara to present lectures and panel discussions throughout the duration of the exhibition.

As for female athletes on campus, there is much praise to be given for this exhibition. The women's volleyball team, who will be signing autographs on the museum's Family Day on Oct. 29, plans to attend the exhibition together.

"Images like Brandi's characterize strong women and achieving goals athletically, and I think it's awesome just to have women exposed that aren't 'waifish' and that actually have some muscles," said junior Anna Cmaylo.

Kienzle also attributes the interest in Game Face to the multiple ways in which it involves different departments.

"One of the things we try to do here at Santa Clara is connect with as many on-campus departments as possible and integrate what we're doing with what those departments are doing," said Kienzle.

In addition to the obvious connection to the Athletic Department, the exhibition relates to the women's studies department.

Working with these departments helps make events like the volleyball autograph signing and lectures on women in sports possible.

This is the last stop for Game Face. After being on tour since 2001, Santa Clara will be the final showing, as well as the only Bay Area exhibition.

Admission is free and Game Face will be open to the public until Dec. 2 during the museum's new extended hours.

Contact Lisa Porter at (408) 551-1918 or lporter@scu.edu.