Providence Public Library 2018 Exhibition & Program Series: HairBrained May Programs
Programs Scheduled in May
PROVIDENCE, RI – Providence Public Library’s (PPL) fourth annual Exhibition & Program series HairBrained is focused on hair. Specifically, the exhibition explores the ways in which hair defines and reflects culture, self-identity, agency and politics. Meanwhile, the program series, which is inspired by images and texts in the exhibition, will offer cultural programs and educational activities for all ages that explore how and why we have grown, cut, shaved, shaped, woven, adorned and covered the hair on our heads, from centuries ago ’til today.
Our calendar of upcoming HairBrained cultural and educational programs and events for all ages, running through June, is available at www.provlib.org.
Upcoming MAY HairBrained programs/talks include:
Wednesday, May 2 6—8 pm, 3rd Floor Meeting Room
Artist Laura Anderson Barbata on “The Eye of the Beholder: Julia Pastrana’s Long Journey Home”
Artist Laura Anderson Barbata, Mexican-born artist who works internationally, on her project about Julia Pastrana, a woman born in the early 19th century in Sinaloa, with a rare medical condition that caused her to be covered with hair and to have a very strongly shaped jaw. Join us to hear her story of her quest. Sign up: https://www.provlib.org/calendar/?id=4015156&d=2018-05-02
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Wednesday, May 9 6—8 pm 3rd Floor Meeting Room
Fashion Historian Victoria Pass: The Mangbetu Coiffure and Haute Couture
Fashion historian Victoria Pass traces the history of an image, using a photograph of a Mangbetu woman taken in 1924 and finding its influence in the work of international artists, designers, advertisers and other image-makers (including, most recently, Beyoncé in Lemonade), from the 1920s through the present. https://www.provlib.org/calendar/?id=4015203&d=2018-05-09
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Saturday, May 12 Noon—2 pm 3rd Floor Meeting Room
Mother-child Hair Care & Braiding
Aminah Fonseca and Shahidah Ali of Mixx Hair Bar present a drop-in mother-child hair care and braiding session in honor of Mother’s Day weekend. Join us to relax, bond with your child, and learn new ways to care for hair. https://www.provlib.org/calendar/?id=4011926&d=2018-05-12
HairBrained Exhibition
Hair is simultaneously frivolous and serious, personal and universal. It’s a means to communicate complex messages to everyone we encounter. In this exhibition, we focus on hairstyles around the world and throughout history via a selection of items from PPL’s Special Collections.
Exhibition materials will include books, prints, magazines, and photographs. Items will be on exhibit in the Providence Journal Rhode Island Room on Level 1 during the Library’s regular hours from March – June 2018.r