Celebrating Women, an exhibition of photographs by noted author and documentary photographer Paola Gianturco, will be on view January 8-30 at the Tarble Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University.
Child taking part in Swaziland wedding ceremony; photograph by Paola Gianturco
Celebrating Women presents documentary photographs taken at seventeen festivals in fifteen countries on five continents. The festivals honor women’s roles, rites of passage, attributes, accomplishments and spiritual lives. The exhibition Celebrating Women is based on Gianturco’s book of the same title.
The exhibit includes images from: Swaziland’s Reed Dance, a festival that salutes the country’s beautiful young virgins; Poland’s Noc Świętojańska Festival where young women float wreaths of wildflowers on lakes and rivers, by tradition, to induce men fall in love with them; India’s Kali Puja festival in homage to Kali, a ferocious manifestation of the Goddess Durga; Sweden’s Festival of Sankta Lucia who, in the 4th century, brought light and help to early Christians; Brazil’s Festival of Boa Morte (Good Death) where women descendants of African slaves praise their liberation in tribute to abolitionist women slaves; and Morocco’s Marriage Festival of the Berber tribes, an annual mass wedding.
The exhibition demonstrates the important and diverse contributions of women to their communities and cultures through vibrant color images of parades, parties, feasts, ceremonies and competitions. Until Gianturco documented these festivals no one had. She found that different cultures honor women for different attributes -- as athletes, goddesses, providers, warriors, mothers, flirts, and more.
Since becoming a full-time author and photojournalist, Gianturco has dedicated herself to advocating for women around the world. She has documented women’s lives in forty countries and has authored four books: Women Who Light the Dark (2007), the story of local women around the world who are helping one another tackle the problems of violence, poverty, illiteracy and disease; ¡Viva Colores! A Salute to the Indomitable People of Guatemala (2006), co-authored with David Hill, telling the stories of Guatemalans who experience color as an expression of valor and meaning; In Her Hands: Craftswomen Changing the World (2000), co-authored with Toby Tuttle, which profiles 90 women artisans in twelve countries who are feeding and educating their children; and Celebrating Women (2004).
All of Gianturco's books are philanthropic projects, from which she donates her royalties to selected nonprofit organizations related to each book's content. These include the PAVA Foundation, The Global Fund for Women, the International Museum of Women, Aid to Artisans, Women Thrive Worldwide, Association of Women's Rights in Development, Freedom from Hunger, and The Crafts Center.
In conjunction with the exhibition Gianturco will be on Eastern’s campus to present two lectures. She will talk about the stories behind the photographs in her book Women Who Light the Dark on January 12 7pm, in the Doudna Fine Arts Center Lecture Hall. A book signing will follow the lecture.
On January 13, 4pm, at the Tarble Arts Center, Gianturco will talk about her book and the exhibition Celebrating Women. Books will also be available for purchase and signing after the Tarble lecture.
Paola Gianturco’ talks and exhibition are co-sponsored by EIU’s Center for Translational Humanities and the Tarble Arts Center as part of the EIU Humanities lecture series Meaningful Work. Admission is free to the exhibition and lectures.
An exhibition was also developed based on Gianturco’s book In Her Hands, Craftswomen Changing the World. Gianturco’s photographs have also appeared in group exhibitions, including: Durga: Avenging Goddess, Nurturing Mother (Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA); Photographs of the African Diaspora (Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA); and Progress of the World’s Women (United Nations General Assembly Building, New York, NY); and the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival (Washington, DC). And her photographs have appeared in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, and many other publications.
As a speaker Gianturco has lectured extensively. Other museums at which she has made presentations include the Field Museum (Chicago), American Craft Museum (New York City), International Museum of Women (San Francisco), National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, DC), Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum (Washington, DC), among others. And she has appeared on CNN, NPR-All Things Considered and The Oprah Winfrey Show among many other telecasts.
Paola Gianturco’s involvement with women internationally is long standing. She was Chairman of the Board of The Crafts Center in Washington DC, which works with low income artisans in 79 countries, and was a board member of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development. She co-developed and taught Summer Executive Institutes on Women and Leadership for Stanford University’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and Mills College. She sits on the Board of International Nature and Cultural Adventures. Before becoming a full-time photographer, she spent 34 years in marketing and communications.
Before her work as photographer and author Gianturco spent 34 years in marketing, advertising, and communications. Her positions included Senior Vice President at Hall and Levine Advertising in Los Angeles, the first women-owed ad agency in the United States
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