"Beggars and Choosers: Motherhood is Not a Class Privilege in America," will open at the Emerson Gallery at Hamilton College on Friday, April 11. The show is curated by author and historian Rickie Solinger and photographer Kay Obering. The show incorporates some 50 images that picture the complexities of being a mother in contemporary America and challenges the prevailing ideas that motherhood in America should be a class privilege.
Solinger will give a lecture on the exhibition on Friday, April 11, at 4 p.m. in the Emerson Gallery. A reception will follow immediately after the lecture in the gallery. The exhibition will close on Sunday, May 4.
Solinger is the author of Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race before Roe v. Wade (1992, 2nd ed. 2000), The Abortionist: A Woman Against the Law (1994), Beggars and Choosers: How the Politics of Choice Shapes Adoption, Abortion and Welfare in the United States (2001). She is the editor of Abortion Wars: A Half-Century of Struggle, 1950-2000 (1998), and with Gwendolyn Mink, U.S. Welfare Policies and Politics in the 20th Century: A Documentary History (forthcoming).
Kay Obering is a photographer and artist whose traveling exhibitions include "Aija," a photography show about a Latvian painter, and "With Love from Kate," a photography show about Obering's relatives in Fargo, ND. She curated "Composing a Life," a traveling exhibition of 70 original books by Associates of the Rocky Mountain Women's Institute in honor of the institute's 20th anniversary.
Among the photographers exhibiting works in the show are Susan Meiselas, Margaret Morton, Stephan Shames, Brenda Kenneally and Corky Lee. The exhibition will be arriving at the Emerson Gallery from Skidmore College and will continue on to St. Lawrence College.
This exhibition is sponsored by the ACCESS Project at Hamilton College. The ACCESS Project is a program designed to provide low-income parents in Central New York with a fully-supported introduction to liberal arts education. The program combines an intensive introduction to the liberal arts with social service, career, and family support. All of the students, prior to beginning the program, were dependent on county Social Services programs. The ACCESS Project essentially helps individuals move from a life dependent on public assistance to one as an educated, contributing member of society using education as its primary tool.
The Emerson Gallery is located on the Hamilton College campus in Clinton, New York, in the Christian Johnson Hall directly behind the chapel. Admission is free. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. For information, call (315) 859-4396.
