Bowling ’82

Bowling ’82 belongs to a series of elements in the JoAnn Elam collection featuring JoAnn Elam and her coworkers from the US Post Office at the bowling alley near Logan Square where they worked. In this footage from around 1982, the camera first focuses on Elam, as she throws the ball down the lane. The second part features Elam’s coworkers as well as her second husband Joe Hendrix, who also worked as a letter carrier for the US Post Office at that time. Although Elam’s intentions remain unclear, she might have intended to use this and the other elements mentioned above for a new project after she made Tai Chi Bowling (ca. 1972), which explores the physicality of bowling.