ANN JOHNSON, “Egyptian Collar,” 2002 (mixed media: beads, regulation goal and backboard, found objects, chain net, 48 inches long). | © Ann Johnson. Collection of Elliot Perry, Memphis, Tenn.
THE FREIGHTED SYMBOLISM of basketball, its intrinsic connection to the Black community, and the elements used to play the sport (ball, hoop, and net) have inspired many artists working in a variety of formats, including Nina Chanel Abney, Ernie Barnes, Awol Erizku, David Hammons, Hugh Hayden, Barkley L. Hendricks, David Huffman, and Ann Johnson (below left).
A multidisciplinary artist and educator, Johnson was born in London, grew up in Cheyenne, Wyo., and lives and works in Houston, Texas. She earned an MFA from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco and co-founded the printmaking organization PrintHouston (formerly PrintMatters). Her work was included in the Texas Biennial in 2013 and 2021. For 30 years, Johnson has been on faculty at her undergraduate alma mater, Prairie View A&M University, the HBCU where she teaches merchandising and design.
Early in her teaching career, Johnson began adorning discarded basketball hoops with Mardi Gras beads making works that reflected a common narrative she encountered on campus. Many of her male students had outsized dreams of making it in the NBA and gaining fame and riches like Michael Jordan. The 1994 movie Hoop Dreams was released around the same time. “The struggles and the pressure,” Johnson told KQED, the Northern California public media outlet, “that’s what I wanted to explore.”
“Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It” at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco is Johnson’s first solo show on the West Coast. The exhibition explores the intersection of art, sports, and culture. Embellished basketball hoops are on view, evocative works referencing themes of community, heritage, higher goals, materialism, and dreams deferred.
The works draw on cultural signifiers and artistic traditions. Johnson’s dazzling, intricate, and patterned beadwork calls to mind African neckpieces worn in ancient Egypt and in Kenya and Tanzania by the Maasai people, as well as the hand-sewn bead designs that adorn Mardi Gras Indian suits in New Orleans. Other works in the show called BlingCatchers, adorned with dangling jewelry, baby Jordans, and found objects, evince Native American dreamcatchers.
“Because it lives at the intersection of race, politics, economics, and popular culture, basketball remains both familiar and fascinating to many artists…” — MoAD Chief Curator Key Jo lee
A video installation and assemblage and sculptural works produced between 2002 and 2024 are featured in the show. Two works composed of transfer prints on poured concrete are displayed alongside works based on regulation basketball hoops and backboards.
“Because it lives at the intersection of race, politics, economics, and popular culture, basketball remains both familiar and fascinating to many artists…” MoAD Chief Curator Key Jo lee said in a statement. “Ann’s work powerfully removes the figure of the player, and thus the Black body, as the object of contemplation. Instead, the artist investigates critical questions about freedom, success and ‘uplifts’ via bejeweled backboards and ornamental hoops.”
Johnson told KQED she loves basketball, is a big fan of the Golden State Warriors, and is heartened to have her work exhibited at MoAD. “I used to walk past there when it first opened,” she said. The exhibition coincides with MoAD’s 20th anniversary year and the NBA’s 2025 All-Star Weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area (Feb. 14-16). CT
Curated by Key Jo Lee, Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It is on view at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, Calif., from Feb. 5-March 2, 2025
FIND MORE about Ann Johnson on her website and Instagram
FIND MORE “Intentional,” a solo exhibition Ann Johnson is forthcoming at Hooks-Eptein Galleries in Houston (Feb. 22-March 22, 2025). In addition, Johnson was a 2023-24 artist in residence at the Houston Center for Contemporary Art, where her work is included in the current exhibition In Residence: 17th Edition (Nov. 2, 2024-June 21, 2025)
Installation view of Ann Johnson’s “Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It,” Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, Calif. (Feb. 5-March 2, 2025). | Courtesy MoAD
Photo: Courtesy MoAD
Photo: Courtesy MoAD
Installation view of Ann Johnson’s “Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It,” Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, Calif. (Feb. 5-March 2, 2025). | Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, Detail of “BlingCatcher V: Baller,” 2015 (mixed media: fund objects, regulation goal, 18 x 36 inches). | © Ann Johnson. Photo: Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, Installation view of “Freedom Dreamin’, 2024 (transfer print on poured concrete, 20 x 20 x 2 inches). | © Ann Johnson. Photo: Courtesy MoAD
Photo: Courtesy MoAD
Photo: Courtesy MoAD
Installation view of Ann Johnson’s “Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It,” Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, Calif. (Feb. 5-March 2, 2025). | Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, “Tut’s Ice,” 2004 (mixed media: beads, gilding, regulation goal on wood, found objects, chain net, 4 x 4 feet x 17 inches), restored in 2024. | © Ann Johnson. Photo: Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, Detail of “Tut’s Ice,” 2004 (mixed media: beads, gilding, regulation goal on wood, found objects, chain net, 4 x 4 feet x 17 inches), restored in 2024. | © Ann Johnson. Photo: Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, “Birth of a Star Child,” 2006 (mixed media: beads, gilding, regulation goal on wood, found objects, 4 x 4 feet). | © Ann Johnson. Photo: Courtesy MoAD
Installation view of ANN JOHNSON, “My Freedom Gotta Rim On It” (video). | Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, “Freedom Dreamin’, 2024 (transfer print on poured concrete, 20 x 20 x 2 inches). | © Ann Johnson. Photo: Courtesy MoAD
Installation view of Ann Johnson’s “Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It,” Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, Calif. (Feb. 5-March 2, 2025). | Courtesy MoAD
ANN JOHNSON, Detail of “Egyptian Collar,” 2002 (mixed media: beads, regulation goal and backboard, found objects, chain net, 48 inches long). | © Ann Johnson. Collection of Elliot Perry, Memphis, Tenn.
