Striking Form

About the Collection

Striking Form is a digital exhibit showcasing a selection of personal, upsetting, cringey, wacky, and eye-roll worthy moments from women’s bowling in the United States. Despite several women in my mom’s family who loved bowling—and still do!—I really knew nothing about it. Beginning with my great-grandmother (“Granny”) and her sister, many of my cousins formed a love for bowling that continues on to this day. After my Granny passed, my mom kept many of her personal items, including her bowling association lapel pins which were the inspiration for this collection.

Photographing all of the pins and listening to my mom recount her childhood memories about bowling with my great-grandmother impressed upon me how important, albeit fun, bowling was for my Granny. It was a source of expertise-building, exercise, and—most importantly—community that she regularly participated in for many years.

What began as a personal exploration of my Granny’s connection to a sport she loved quickly morphed into something different. The more I searched for historical items and media related to women bowlers (also called “keglerttes”), the more I was exposed to evidence of sexism, racism, misogyny, and objectification of women in the sport—whether showing off their skills on the lanes or simply existing as eye candy while others bowled. It was disappointing to find these items from several decades ago and realize that a lot of the opinions and views toward women in sports still persist to this day.

Not everything I found was disheartening, however, and I had fun including a few silly and bizarre items as well. Combining this history with my Granny’s photos & lapel pins felt right because as a Black woman bowling in Los Angeles just a decade after segregation, her story is intertwined with the attitudes and values of that time. Situating her bowling story in the midst of the collective made the collection feel complete somehow.

About WIBC

Originating in 1916, Women’s International Bowling Congress (WIBC) was a counterpart to the men’s only American Bowling Congress and merged in 2005 with ABC, the Young American Bowling Alliance, and USA Bowling (which oversaw Team USA in international competitions) to form theUnited States Bowling Congress. Notably, WIBC was racially segregated until 1950 when, following the lead of the men’s league, voted to desegregate the organization.