Stacey Furtado and Jackie Lyons grew up playing basketball, eventually ascending to the collegiate ranks before arriving at their current gigs at a couple local startups. The game shaped who they are today, and their new photo project aims to shape who the next force of female ballers will be tomorrow.
94 Feet of Concrete is a project that captures Greater Boston's outdoor basketball courts, one photo at a time. It's a passion project for the duo; Furtado is the marketing manager at Fort Point-based Crowdly, and Lyons is the lead graphic designer at iSlide in Norwood.
I had an email exchange with the two of them. "As proud members of this remarkable community, we feel that it’s important to emphasize the incredible ball the women in the city are playing," they told me, "and pave paths for the next generation to continue to do so as boldly, loudly and as successfully as our male counterparts."
The basketball courts, that is, are the canvas, but the work and creativity that goes on there can affect a person far beyond the 94 feet of concrete between the hoops.
As part of the endeavor, the ladies will post a Court of the Day photo to their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, in addition to sending a daily email to subscribers. On Wednesdays, they'll drop 10 photos on the site; and every Friday, they'll be asking the community to submit their own photos via social media and the hashtag #94FOC.
Through the photos, the project aims to be about more than basketball, speaking to our diverse communities, and the people – young and old, got game or not – who make them great every day.
"It's about basketball being a thread throughout our communities, bringing people together, and representing the changes each of those neighborhoods faces as we go on," they said.
Furtado hails from Dartmouth, Mass., and is now a resident of Somerville. She played college ball at the University of Delaware. Lyons is a Reading, Mass., native, lives in East Boston, and finished her college career at Merrimack.
The photos, taken from all over Boston and beyond, are striking in their starkness, saying volumes about that particular locale without saying a word or showing a face. The courts are shot empty. My interpretation of that approach: play your own game, dictate your own success.
"Plainly put," Furtado and Lyons said, "we’re two women who love the city of Boston, the game of basketball, and the opportunities both have afforded us. We hope this project gives us the chance to give back to each of those communities in an impactful way, and can’t wait to see where it takes us."
Images via Stacey Furtado.
