Identities Program Series and
Tomboy Exhibition
April - June 2022
Who we are is always changing.
Through seasons of introspection and upheaval, the identities we take on, become, are given, and encounter intersect to define and redefine us. Our Identities series of programs offered new ways of exploring who we want to be and who we are, while the corresponding Tomboy exhibition interrogated the history of cultural expectations and gender norms for girls and women, especially in the interplay between lifestyle, aesthetic, play and self-identity.
Appearing first in the 1590s, the term “tomboy” was defined as a “wild, romping girl, who acts like a spirited boy;” or “strumpet, bold, and immodest woman.”* The Tomboy exhibition specifically looked at historical shifts in definitions of femininity and gender to understand how tomboys have challenged cultural norms to have a dynamic influence on fashion, literature, sports and popular culture.
Among other questions, visitors were encouraged to ask themselves about the relevance of the tomboy today, how have various societies and cultures defined femininity and if the term “tomboy” holds meaning currently? As society has developed a more nuanced understanding of femininity, is it a term that holds continued relevance?
Some visitor comments:
I …was blown away by the scope and rigor of your exhibition.
I visited your Tomboy exhibit and absolutely loved it. The objects in the exhibit were so meaningful and inspiring…Thanks for all you do for the community.
I wish my mother could see this exhibit. She hated it that I was a tomboy, but later she became a staunch feminist and this exhibit might have prompted her to reconsider. Too late for her, but not for lots of other people.
I really enjoyed reading the labels and the way they asked questions and made it feel engaging. It’s also such a different experience seeing an exhibit that is so personal and that I feel reflected in, not just as some distant historical facts.
Space Transformation Station at PPL
“Space Transformation Station Library Situation,” a satellite studio of the BIG NAZO LAB officially “activated” in PPL’s Workshop from March through May.
Visitors could choose to watch the socially-distanced robot fabrication and interactive alien performance activity through the windows or come inside and participate.
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In 2018, support from the Carter Fellowship for Entrepreneurial Innovation helped create the “Space Transformation Station” (STStation), a satellite studio of the BIG NAZO LAB. Initially, it was based in the Intermodal Transportation Center in Providence’s Kennedy Plaza. When public gathering was restricted due to the pandemic, the STStation’s “Yuranian Alien” performers kept busy partnering with a number of community organizations to support the installation of public art, the gleaning of vegetables, and the promotion of safe mask use. They advocated for voters’ rights awareness, and for transit, housing, and civil rights initiatives. And they did it by creating spectacular, as well as subtle, live “happenings” powered by local artist-collaborators and members of the general public.
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The STStation “SHELF-BOT” Fabrication initiative in 2020 resulted in the creation of people-powered robots who appeared in PPL’s Virtual Grand Opening, becoming friends with the Library’s automatic book drop on Empire Street!
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Thanks to the generous support of Joseph A. Chazan, MD, the BIG NAZO LAB’s STStation once again got to work in the Library’s accessible public Workshop space with a free open-door, drop-in policy for the general public! The Saturday STStation Library Situation events attracted great crowds of all ages.
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