The Bearded Lady Project: Challenging the Face of Science

Additional Information

Please join us for the world premier of The Bearded Lady Project: Challenging the Face of Science on Friday, March 3rd with a two part event:

- 6:30pm - 7:20pm, Classroom Building Rm 133: A preview screening of the documentary film, followed by Q&A with the cast and crew members
- 7:30pm -9pm, UW Geological Museum: Opening Reception of the Portrait Exhibition, refreshments and light snacks will be provided.

Admission is free, but donations are encouraged to support a scholarship fund for future email scientists.

The Bearded Lady Project was co-founded by UW paleontologist Ellen Currano, film director and producer Lexi Jamieson Marsh, and fine art photographer Kelsey Vance. It started as a joke between Currano and Marsh, two women trying to succeed in male-dominated fields. Some days, both women agreed, professional life would just be so much easier with facial hair. Paleontology in particular has long celebrated large, grizzled or bearded men going out in the field, facing the elements, having a large pickax, and moving boulders. Upon further reflection, the joke turned serious, and The Bearded Lady Project was born.

Supported by Currano’s NSF CAREER grant, Marsh, Vance, and director of photography Draper White traveled across the US and UK interviewing female paleontologists and, of course, taking bearded portraits of scientists in their field, laboratory, museum, and classroom settings. The exhibition will feature 40 of these black and white photographs that seek to recreate historical portraits of the female adventurers that are absent from science books and documentaries.

For more about the Bearded Lady Project, please visit the following Website: http://thebeardedladyproject.com