Dear Adam Silver

Breanne Trammell is a multi-media artist often making work in response to pop-culture icons, including sports figures. We had the chance to discuss her practice and some specific pieces during my time as an artist-in-residence at Wave Pool Gallery in Cincinnati.

Please check out more of Breanne's work at https://breanne.info and follow her on Instagram @breanne_

This episode was produced and edited by Eliseo Casiano.

Bill Bamberger is a fine art and documentary photographer based in Durham, NC. While visiting Washington DC earlier this year, I saw an exhibition of Bill's work at the National Building Museum entitled HOOPS; this work included photographs of basketball hoops from all over the world. Our conversation spans the idea behind the work overall as well as specific stories of his time searching for hoops.

More information about the museum and the work can be viewed here:

https://www.nbm.org/exhibition/hoops/

More information about Bill and his other bodies of work can be seen here:

http://www.billbamberger.com

This episode was produced and edited by Eliseo Casiano.

Isaac Eger writes about many different subjects, including the ins and outs of pickup basketball. Two years ago, I read an essay he wrote for Los Angeles Magazine entitled What Pickup Basketball Reveals About L.A.. I immediately felt the need to reach out and tell him how much I appreciated his piece. It was exciting to discover Eger's work; he learns about different places all over the world through the process of playing basketball with locals and then translates those experiences into accessible and compelling stories. It was wonderful to have him on the podcast to discuss being a writer and player.

Please check out more of Isaac's work here: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/12/sports/basketball/a-new-arrival-explores-new-york-through-pickup-basketball.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=8B61E42133D824772485EAF4D6D1AD82&gwt=pay

Here:

https://www.lamag.com/longform/pickup-basketball-los-angeles-isaac-eger/

And here:

https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/producers/isaac-eger

This episode was edited and produced by Eliseo Casiano.

Shea Serrano is a staff writer for The Ringer and author of The New York Times Best Seller Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated. We had the chance to discuss his collaborative relationship with Arturo Torres, the artist who created all of the drawings for the book.

Shea is also the author of The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed. His new book entitled Movies (and Other Things) will be published in October of 2019.

You can follow Shea on twitter @SheaSerrano

Please note that this podcast was recorded while the NBA Finals were still going on, just after Klay Thompson had suffered his first injury of the series.

This podcast was produced by Eliseo Casiano.

New Orleans based artist Abdi Farah is back on the pod to discuss the outcome of the NBA playoffs, the ongoing finals and the real reason why Anthony Davis wants to leave the Pelicans (note: it has to do with their name).

Abdi's work can be found at http://www.abdifarah.com

Tema is a Toronto based freelance writer and Director of Community Engagement at Holy Blossom Temple. Recently, she wrote an article for the Jewish Daily Forward entitled "Are Jews White? American History Says It's Complicated." This piece takes a deep dive into the term "passing" and how it has been used and misused historically.

Although this conversation does not touch directly on sports, dissecting the language that we use to describe our bodies, as well as the bodies of other people, is crucial to breaking down stereotypes and misrepresentation.

Thank you so much to Tema for coming on the pod and sharing her thoughts. You can read the article we discuss by clicking the link below. You can also follow Tema on twitter @Temasmith and check out her website at www.temasmith.com.

https://forward.com/opinion/417274/are-jews-white-american-history-says-its-complicated/

This episode was edited and produced by Eliseo Casiano.

Abdi Farah is a New Orleans based artist and educator. We had the chance to talk about the upcoming NBA playoffs, his deep love for Allen Iverson, and his practice rooted in the appreciation and critique of the culture surrounding football. This is my longest episode to date, but truly filled with the most crossover between sports and visual art(!).

Abdi's work can be seen at http://www.abdifarah.com.

Please subscribe to Dear Adam Silver on Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud.

This episode was edited and produced by Eliseo Casiano.

Dana Bassett is a Chicago based curator. She is a host and producer of Bad at Sports, a contemporary art podcast that focuses on artists and exhibitions in the Midwest region.

Please do not forget to subscribe to Dear Adam Silver on Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud.

This episode was produced by Eliseo Casiano.

"Organized sports may be one of the great achievements of the modern state: they provide a means of public release of frustration, and they model the achievements of a supposedly meritocratic society. They also locate and inscribe a tribal identity that at times appears to transcend race and social class. But the awful truth is that is doesn’t. And now I understand why audiences are so enraged by athletes taking a knee: because these men and women are our dreams, manifesting a grace that the rest of us lack, a grace we expect to stay aloft, in the air."

--Seph Rodney, from The Political Truths That Ground Our Athletic Heroes

Seph Rodney, PhD, is an art and culture critic based in New York City. He is a staff writer and editor for Hyper Allergic and is also a member of the faculty at Parsons School of Design.

More information about Seph can be found on his website: https://sephrodney.com

His writing can be found on Hyper Allergic: https://hyperallergic.com/author/seph-rodney/

He is also one of the hosts of the The American Age podcast. Make sure to listen and subscribe: http://theamericanage.org/podcast/

This episode was produced by Eliseo Casiano (www.eliseocasiano.com)

Ronny Quevedo is a visual artist based in The Bronx. His work offers us a non-traditional approach to the spaces where sports are played while alluding to pre-colonial Latin American symbolism in much of his mark making. Through his work, basketball courts become both celebratory and spiritual, soccer balls are brought into question as a tool of oppression and the audience is called upon to rethink the rules and confines that exist in sports and ultimately, the rest of our culture.

Quevedo's work can be seen at http://www.ronnyquevedo.info

Seph Rodney's review of Quevedo's piece "no hay media tiempo" can be read in full at https://hyperallergic.com/392117/a-vision-of-us-immigration-beyond-the-melting-pot/

This episode of Dear Adam Silver was edited and produced by Eliseo Casiano.