June 2022 -- Cultural Content
Dear Friends,

Happy Pride Month! Happy IDENTITIES Series! Join us at PPL this month as we highlight and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community!

Opening June 1 in the Rhode Island Room is the exhibit Wanderground Lesbian Archive - A Small Sampling, featuring writings by RI Lesbians, early publications from independent Lesbian/feminist publishers, music and videos, art and artifacts and other life-affirming Lesbian legacies, curated by Mev Miller from her extensive collection; register here to join Mev for a Curator's Tour on June 15th!
And please join us for the RI LGBTQ+ Film Series, taking place IN PERSON on three consecutive Tuesdays in June in our beautiful Donald J. Farish Auditorium. June 7: Queer Archives Movie Night, co-presented with the RI Historical Society; June 14: Death Drop Gorgeous; and June 21: I’m Gonna Make You Love Me. Films will be followed by discussions; the filmmakers will join us for the June 14 and 21 screenings and conversations!
Deathdrop Gorgeous Film Poster


This series highlights the LGBTQ+ Community Archive at PPL, and we wish to thank our Presenting Sponsors whose
generous support of the Film Series and Community Archive has made this programming possible: Nick Autiello & Eric Rietveld; JP Couture; The Dark Lady/Alleycat; James DeRentis & Brett Smiley; Office of Mayor Jorge O. Elorza, City of Providence; Lise Iwon; Billy Kepner & Joe Zappala; Open Door Health; Mark Pompelia & Charles Flora; Deborah T. Rempis (in memory of James A. Rempis); Julie Smith (in memory of Julie Pell); The Stable; and Joe Wilson, Jr. 
We hope you've had a chance to explore the multiple offerings of "Identities" with us this spring. The lively and compelling exhibition Tomboy (a must-see and the talk of the town), is on view in our Joan T. Boghossian Gallery -- but only until June 30, so stop by soon! Our final virtual Tomboy Curator's Tour, on the theme of "Expression," featuring curators Kate Wells (PPL) and Mary Murphy (Pembroke Center, Brown University) in conversation with special guest Page Wooller, takes place Wednesday, June 1 at 6 pm - register here to join the conversation. (If you missed the earlier virtual tours, catch up with these videos: "Control," with special guest Lo Bell, and "Capability," with special guest Kotone Deguchi; also available for viewing, thanks to the Pembroke Center, is "What Does Tomboy Mean to You?" a conversation with performance artist/“gender outlaw” Kate Bornstein, scholar Virginia Thomas, and artist/PPL Events and Programs Manager Janaya Kizzie.)
And while you're here to see Wanderground and Tomboy, don’t miss another “Identities” exhibition! Would That: Expressions of Possibility in Asian America and Diasporas invites you into the stacks to find its treasures, all created by members of the Providence, Brown, and RISD communities in a variety of media, and curated by Brown University American Studies artist-in-residence, Diana Khoi Nguyen (it’s on view until June 30). 
Also arriving in June and in months to come, a slowly manifesting, collaboratively-constructed (possibly with your participation?) 450-million-year timeline of the horseshoe crab’s presence, role, and meaning on earth (including a recurring part in vaccine production), brought to PPL by artist Eli Nixon, whose recent book BLOODTIDE- A New Holiday in Homage to Horseshoe Crabs is a MUST for your reading list! The timeline will evolutionarily appear along PPL’s three-story stairwell as the summer progresses; even if you haven’t read their book, sign up for one of Eli’s participatory horseshoe crab holiday activation workshops happening throughout the summer at PPL, and become part of this generative, identity-reimagining project! Learn more about the book and the project in this video of the book launch, virtually hosted by PPL in December. (Thanks to the City of Providence’s Department of Arts, Culture + Tourism for support of this project, as part of PVDFest Ideas.)
Sadly, the highly-anticipated concert by Verdant Vibes that we had planned to present on Saturday, June 4, has been canceled due to illness, but we are happy to report that it will be rescheduled for September - stay tuned for the new date.

As we wrap up spring events and move into summer, we’re looking back on a programs and exhibitions year in which, despite myriad challenges beyond our control, we forged a path of access, experimentation, and invitation, opening our doors, resources, creative spaces, collections, and archives to our communities, creating opportunities for collaboration, cross-pollination, and expression. And we’re just getting started! We hope to see you soon.

In gratitude,

Christina Bevilacqua
Programs & Exhibitions Director

Janaya Kizzie
Events & Programs Manager

p.s. Our legendary Book Sale is back, for the first time since 2019 -- one day only, June 14, 3 to 7 pm -- don't miss it!
From our April and May events
Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading
Asian American Pacific Islander Month
Dance Showcase
Elemdi Performance Collective performs "The Museum," based on PPL Special Collections in the stacks
Big Nazo performs A Space Transformation Station Event: "The Dream of the BOOK-BOT” in the Auditorium
These upcoming events are part of PPL's Identities Exhibition & Program Series, a celebration of the way our identities change over time, define and unify us.