The Hood Museum of Art’s newest student-curated exhibition confronts visitors with a provocative question: What does it mean to be both “elegant” and “violent?” Women’s rugby team member Josie Harrison ’25 curated “Elegantly Violent: Exploring Masculinity and Gender Expectations within Women’s Sports.”
The exhibition is a mix of modern and contemporary art from the past 120 years, according to the Hood Museum website. Harrison organized the exhibition in her capacity as a Mellon Special Project intern at the Hood.
Its title is derived from a nickname for rugby: “elegant violence.” Harrison said that this phrase perfectly encapsulates the tension female athletes navigate.
“The sport I play has a lot of gender discourse around it,” Harrison said. “It’s a very physical sport, a very aggressive sport ... all things which are very masculine.”
Harrison designed the exhibition space with Bavarian forest green walls and cherry wood frames — colors and materials designed to “play on ideas of masculinity” that are traditionally associated with masculine spaces like studies or gentlemen’s libraries.
The green walls also represent Dartmouth’s school colors — a tribute to the College’s female athletes, Harrison said.
Among the 13 featured works, nine have never before been displayed at the Hood Museum. A centerpiece of the exhibition is “Audrey Resting in Her Corner,” a photograph by Delilah Montoya portraying a female boxer between rounds while stereotypically-feminine legs in high heels walk past the camera in the foreground.
This work presents a view of femininity in boxing that better reflects the more complex reality of gender norms in the sport, according to Harrison.
“You potentially have people adhering to stereotypes like the hyper-sexualized expectations of a ring girl,” she said. “Then you also have two examples where stereotypes maybe aren’t being adhered to: the female boxer and the woman who is breaking stereotypes from the spectatorship point of view.”
Harrison organized the exhibition into four thematic “chapters.” She begins with historical context, moves to the central concept of elegant violence, explores intersectional identities and concludes with pieces that question the viewer as a spectator.
One standout work is “The Competition” by Marnie Webber, a photo montage featuring female bodybuilders with their heads swapped for antlered animals.
“It’s one of those pieces where the closer you get to it, the weirder it gets,” Harrison said. “You have to get close to see the full extent of it.”
Harrison also highlighted the work “Ashley Tappin, Swimmer, USA” by Anderson and Lowe, which shows the Olympic swimmer with ice bags on her shoulders — a universal athletic treatment that transcends gender.
Harrison said that when looking at prints, this one was the only one she found that was displayed in a black rather than cherry wood frame. She said she chose to keep the original frame to reflect what she considered to be unique about the piece: that compared to the others, it does not really focus on gender.
“It’s the one piece where I don’t really talk about gender,” Harrison said. Rather, she said, “This person is a high-performance athlete showcasing a universal experience of athletes.”
The Hood campus engagement manager Jenna Blair, who worked closely as Harrison’s mentor during the exhibition’s development, highlighted the importance of student-curated exhibitions to the Hood’s mission as a teaching institution.
“We get to see how students interpret works in the collection,” Blair said. “They bring creative and diverse perspectives to bringing these artworks to life.”
According to Blair, what makes Harrison’s exhibition particularly meaningful is how it connects to current campus experiences.
“We’re talking about experiences that might be shared “with Josie in particular bringing her personal perspective, but also with the wide variety of athletes on campus who are going through some similar things with their careers,” Blair said.
Harrison organized a panel discussion in conjunction with the exhibition, which Blair said was an important way to “activate the conversation outside of just the exhibition itself.”
Student visitor Simeon Zaragoza GR, a masters of public health student at the Geisel School of Medicine, found the exhibition deeply thought-provoking – particularly in how it revealed societal pressures faced by female athletes.
While examining the photograph “Ashley Tappin, Swimmer, USA” Zaragoza noted its emotional heaviness.
“She’s holding the weight of what’s happening,” Zaragoza said. “It’s conveying the weight of societal pressures, the weight of expectations and stereotypes and the weight of her trying to break those barriers. You can really see it. Her eyes are gleaming down. It’s a very heavy picture right here.”
Harrison hopes the exhibition will prompt Dartmouth students to examine their consumption of women's sports.
“If you don’t watch women’s sports, why don’t you? If you just watch men’s sports but don’t watch women’s sports, why is that the case?” Harrison asked. “Why aren’t you consuming this when you’re consuming the exact same thing but for a different gender?”
Harrison’s exhibition asks viewers to sit with uncomfortable questions about how society treats female athletes. As each visitor passes by the green walls filled with images of women’s strength, her message becomes clear: the conversation about gender in sports is only beginning.
“Elegantly Violent” will remain on display at the Hood Museum until May 25. Harrison’s gallery talk will be held this Wednesday, May 7, from 4:00 to 4:45 p.m.
