The Competition

Label

Marnie Weber made this piece to communicate “the power of women to take pride in their bodies and to become empowered.” Scattered throughout a desert landscape, thirteen female bodybuilders flex while wearing the faces of different antlered animals to evoke their nobility and strength. The juxtaposition of the bodybuilders with the crowd of onlooking bunnies contrasts the power of these athletes with the traditionally feminine symbolism of the bunnies. 

A large part of the creation of gender stereotypes and norms around sports comes from the biases of the typical spectator—to be masculine is to be strong, muscular, and dominant, for example, while to be feminine is to be pretty, clean, and submissive. When spectator with strong biases toward traditional gender roles walk into a room full of muscular and confident women, they may be left confused. Weber plays with this confusion using her abstract collage style.

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

Exhibition History

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

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.

Provenance

The artist, Los Angeles, California, 2000; From artist studio straight to museum show; Sold to provate collector via Fredericks and Freiser Gallery, New York, New York; Anonymous gift; given to present collection, 2018.

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