Lucy Mayers is a high-level lacrosse athlete with a passion for both sport and art. Her work explores the connections between these fields, using art as a medium to raise awareness about sports injuries and their physical and mental impacts. She often focuses on muscle fibres and injury damage to encourage understanding and empathy.

She is particularly interested in the link between the menstrual cycle and injury risk for women in sport—an overlooked issue that affects both performance and well-being. Through her art, Lucy aims to challenge stereotypes, highlight these realities, and inspire greater appreciation for the relationship between sport, art, and science.

‘Another Angle: Discussing stigma & social impacts of sports injuries facing female athletes’

More than four in five teenage girls say their interest in sport diminished after starting their period, and almost one in four say they feel embarrassed to take part in physical activity during their menstrual cycle. ‘Another Angle’ by artist and high-level lacrosse athlete, Lucy Mayers, explores the impact of injury and stigma on women and girls in sports, including the often overlooked but significant increased risk of injuries being sustained during menstruation, ultimately affecting performance and well-being.

Artists who address stigmatised topics through auto-ethnographic methods challenge societal norms, foster empathy, and create space for difficult conversations. By tackling taboos through practices such as painting, sculpture and performance, they help dismantle prejudice and inspire change.

For athletes, using photovoice methods can be both cathartic and empowering, enabling them to reclaim narratives and confront trauma, and also invite others to share experiences of structural, public, and self-stigma, deepening understanding and connection. When used together with cyanotype printmaking there is a shared reliance on unpredictability, with both methods involving a degree of surrendering control, and the images produced becoming valuable sites for reflection.

Confronting stigma through art can drive cultural shifts, encourage dialogue, and promote inclusion—making such work not only valuable but vital.

The project culminated in two exhibitions: ‘In the Line of Play’ and ‘Silent Cycles’

In the Line of Play
Atrium Gallery, John Lennon Art & Design Building | March 2025
‘In the Line of Play’ considers if the intersection of sports and art can promote understanding and empathy around the issues facing athletes?

‘Unseen Battles: Injury, Stigma & Strength in Sport’ presents the outcomes of a photo voice project that asked 5 athletes to document their sports activities and injuries through photography and reflective writing. The images, developed as cyanotypes for their ability to soften images and evoke curiosity, are similar to bruises, which can be seen as medals representing resilience. The cyanotypes reflect the way injuries, both physical and emotional, are often hidden, and while they fade over time, they have left a mark. Displayed as a wall of fame, the cyanotypes are accompanied by short vignettes from the athletes. The transformation, nuanced and representative qualities of photo voice with in a sport-art project aim to tackle menstruation and injury-related stigma facing female athletes.

‘From Sidelines to Spotlight’ presents three mannequins as sculptural pieces to further contextualise Lucy’s own experiences as an athlete and touch upon feelings around uniform, equality, and stereotypes. ‘Inside the Game’ is a miniature lacrosse pitch on the floor of the exhibition space, inviting the audience into a space usually only shared by the athletes.

Silent Cycles
Military Base, Birkenhead | 20–26 August 2025
‘Silent Cycles’ is an exhibition confronting the stigma around women’s bodies in sport, focusing on the menstrual cycle, injury, and mental health. It makes visible the unseen struggles athletes face, showing that strength is not only physical but also emotional and mental.

At its centre is ‘Glory & Grit’, a work placing a tampon against deep blue cyanotypes, a symbol of both taboo and resilience. ‘Courage’ invites visitors to speak into a red telephone, creating an archive of unheard voices. In ‘The Making’ reflects on injury and isolation, portraying resilience through an unfinished canvas.

Set within a military gym —a space tied to discipline yet marked by underrepresentation of women— the exhibition blends personal experience as an international lacrosse goalkeeper with collective stories of women athletes past and present. ‘Silent Cycles’ asks: what challenges are overlooked, and how can we support women in breaking the silence?