Knock, Knock

By Tyrrell Winston

Medium: Four 36h x 24w inch archival pigment prints, framed in white, and an authentic autographed basketball, signed by artist.

The market for Michael Jordan memorabilia has been among the most highly valued since his days with the Chicago Bulls, but has surged as of late with the release of ESPN’s series ‘The Last Dance.’ Although signed basketballs and autographed jerseys are iconic, collectors have been known to purchase just about anything related to Jordan’s legacy. From minor league baseball jerseys to McDonalds ‘McJordan’ BBQ sauce, to the ball he signed with Michael Jackson during the video shoot for ‘Jam’ in 1991, fans have sought out anything and everything the player has touched – the stranger and more unique, the better. Jordan’s significance as a cultural powerhouse has touched sports, media, fashion, hospitality and even the political realm, culminating in his reception of the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2016. The addition of Winston’s signature alongside Jordan’s becomes an act of appropriation but also one of vandalism, requiring the deliberate destruction of one cultural relic in an attempt to merge signifiers of art and sport to create another of unpredictable value.