Gender Benders

Are race and gender comparable categories? We are used to thinking about male and female in two ways: by sex, which distinguishes people as male and female according to anatomical differences, and by gender, which distinguishes people according to attributes and behaviors we consider masculine or feminine, such as what clothes one wears. or how to move one's body, or what work one does, and so on.

So, is race a natural category, like sex, or is it a culturally constructed one, like gender?

In this exhibition, we explore images of women who push at the boundaries of gender. Some of these women openly violated the codes of gender behavior in dress or occupation at the time: others secretly violated these codes by ''passing" as men to fight in the Civil War.

We invite the viewer to consider to what extent both race and gender are performed identities, and as such, open to reflection, revision, and even rejection.