Dyke Deck

Inscriptions

Printed, in ink, left-edge side of case, center: Playing Cards; printed, in ink, bottom-edge side of case, center: Cathy Opie / MOCtA; printed, in ink, right-edge side of case, center: Dyke Deck

Label

Opie’s Dyke Deck celebrates and represents queer women. The suits feature different themes, and the clubs cards show queer women in sports, including a range of identities and activities including skateboarding, basketball, and discus. The cards mainly show their subjects fully clothed, but the athlete on the ace of clubs is topless and displaying top-surgery scars, highlighting gender fluidity within both identity and sexuality. The main commonality among all these images is the confidence each person conveys, whether through a smile or a more determined expression. Even the work’s title sees Opie reclaiming ownership of the homophobic slur “dyke.”

Opie’s cards reminds us that jock masc lesbians, in particular, face the greatest gender scrutiny because they embrace masculinity when competing in sports and in their day-to-day lives. This scrutiny led to women’s sports becoming a safe space for the lesbian community—one where individual masculinity has been embraced. Women’s sports, itself a non-conforming idea, became a safe space for the non-conforming.

From the 2025 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 123, Elegantly Violent: Exploring Masculinity and Gender Expectations within Women’s Sports, curated by Josephine (Josie) Harrison ’25, Mellon Special Project Intern

Course History

WGST 65, Queer Visual Culture, Gabriele Dietze, Winter 2014

WGST 18, Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Studies, Eng-Beng Lim, Winter 2015

WGST 65.6, Radical Sexuality: Of Color, Wildness and Fabulosity, Eng-Beng Lim, Winter 2015

SART 30, SART 75, Photography II and III, Virginia Beahan, Spring 2019

SART 76, Senior Seminar, Jennifer Caine, Winter 2020

SART 16/SART 21/SART 73, Sculpture 1/2/3, Matt Siegle, Winter 2020

WGSS 10.01, Sex, Gender and Society, Douglas Moody, Winter 2021

SART 30.01/SART 75.01, Photography II/III, Eva O'Leary, Fall 2022

WGSS 10.01, Sex, Gender, and Society, Francine A'Ness, Fall 2022

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 2.01, Introduction to Queer Studies, Eng-Beng Lim, Winter 2023

Studio Art 21.01, Studio Art 73.01, Sculpture II, Sculpture III, Matt Siegle, Winter 2024

Art History 40.02, The American Century, Mary Coffey, Spring 2025

Exhibition History

"Collecting and Sharing: Trevor Fairbrother, John T. Kirk, and the Hood Museum of Art", Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 22-December 6, 2015.

A Space for Dialogue 123, Elegantly Violent: Exploring Masculinity and Gender Expectations within Women’s Sports, Josephine (Josie) Harrison ’25, Mellon Special Project Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 5 - May 25, 2025

A Space for Dialogue 82, Rejecting the Diminutive: Small-Scale Art, the Viewer, and the Art World, Winnie Yoe, Class of 2014, Homma Family Intern, Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 24-July 13, 2014.

Constructing Gender: Works from the Hood Museum of Art's Collection, 1500 to the Present, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, ARTH 2, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 28-April 22, 2012.

Femme is Fierce: Femme Queer Gender Performance in Photography, Class of 1967 gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 1-December 17, 2022.

Publication History

Winnie Yoe, A Space for Dialogue 82, Rejecting the Diminutive: Small-Scale Art, the Viewer, and the Art World, Hanover, New Hampshire: Dartmouth College, 2014, checklist no. 4.

Collecting and Sharing: Trevor Fairbrother, John T. Kirk, and the Hood Museum of Art, with contributions by Katherine Hart, Michael R. Taylor, John O'Reilly and James Tellin, Trevor Fairbrother and John T. Kirk, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2015, p. 101, no. 60.

Provenance

Purchased to benefit for the Audre Lorde Lesbian Health Care Clinic, Los Angeles from The Store, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California; sold to John T. Kirk and Trevor J. Fairbrother, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, March 27, 1997; given to present collection, 2010.

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