UNLADYLIKE2020: Art Animates the Archive!

In honor of the centennial of women’s suffrage in 2020, UNLADYLIKE2020 presents the comprehensive biographies of 26 bold American women who, at the turn of the 20th century, broke barriers in male-dominated fields, including science, medicine, politics, business, journalism, sports, aviation, and the arts. The project’s 26 digital shorts share the extraordinary stories of daring and persistent trailblazers through interviews with historians, descendants, and accomplished women of today, who follow in the footsteps of these pioneers and reflect on their influence. An interactive mix of rare archival images and captivating original artwork and animation brings these stories to vivid life.

Three of the women featured in the series have RI connections: opera singer Sissieretta Jones, mountain climber Annie Smith Peck, and newspaper editor and vice presidential candidate Charlotta Spears Bass. On Monday, October 19 (Annie Smith Peck’s birthday!), PPL is thrilled to present, in partnership with the Rhode Island Historical Society and Stages of Freedom, a virtual viewing of their incredible stories, followed by a discussion with the project’s Series Creator, Executive Producer, Director & Writer Charlotte Mangin; Executive Producer, Director & Writer Sandra Rattley; Artist & Artistic Director Amelie Chabannes; and Motion Graphics Animator & Artistic Director Joel Orloff, about how they worked together as a multidisciplinary team to research, recover, and then make visible the lives and dynamism of women who, although famous in their own time, had for the most part disappeared from living memory, and whose images and effects had been scattered across decades and distances. Please join us to welcome them back! This program is presented virtually and is free and open to all, registration required.