Women In Sport: Boxing

Thomas Tolstrup’s photography focuses not just on the physical side of sport but also the emotional aspects. His background as a photo journalist taught him the importance of quickly putting subjects at ease to focus on their individual human experience and channel it into a visual dialogue.
 
I've been Art Directing Thomas' shoots for Getty Images over the last year and for this shoot we wanted to focus in on boxing, as the sport has long been traditionally dominated by men. We feel it’s important to highlight the movement towards inclusive spaces for women to get involved.
 
At Getty Images, we’re looking to challenge media depictions of sports and gender. We’re aware that certain sports are portrayed with a visual language that is subconsciously “masculine” and we’re here to prove that any sport is female friendly. Throughout this shoot, we focused on the challenging and gritty aspect to boxing but also highlighted moments of community, friendship, and support that make it a positive and healthy experience. Our aim is to not only create empowering images of females in sport, but also to produce tangible concepts of gender equality, inclusion, and diversity.