PORT ANGELES — An artist who curated an exhibit that explored how beauty is defined and represented will discuss the show, “Don’t Touch My Hair: Expressions of Identity and Community,” during Peninsula College’s Studium Generale at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
To join Meredith Lancaster’s free presentation, go to https://pencol-edu.zoom.us/j/89616075652. The meeting ID is 896 1607 5652.
Lancaster, who curated the exhibit at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon in 2018, will reflect on it and engage in a question-and-answer period with the audience.
Organized by University of Oregon graduate and guest curator Lancaster, the exhibition investigated the politics of hair, racialized beauty standards, hair rituals and the differences in expectations between men and women with regard to hair.
“Don’t Touch My Hair” explored how beauty is defined and represented within and outside one’s community. Lancaster and a team of student collaborators invited students and student groups across the University of Oregon campus to participate in conversations about hair, both seen and unseen, as a site of resistance and affirmation.
Lancaster is a Southern California native who said she was raised by both the city of Los Angeles and the city of Chicago. She has a background in art history and exhibition design. She said that her curatorial values focus on diversity, accessibility and inclusion, particularly for people of color and women.
She has held various positions at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Ore., including manager of museum studio and special projects and assistant curator. Currently, she is working as a freelance curator in Los Angeles and developing exhibitions with local artists while also earning a second master’s degree in library and information sciences.
This Studium Generale is co-sponsored by ʔaʔk̓ʷustəƞáwt̓xʷ House of Learning, PC Longhouse.
