Butch Heroes at the Fitchburg Art Museum

Don’t forget about the Butch Heroes exhibit by Ria Brodell, currently on display at the Fitchburg Art Museum during regular museum hours through July 14!

Boston-based artist, educator, and author Ria Brodell draws on descriptive accounts and primary sources to create portraits of real women who lived their lives outside of heterosexual and gender norms in the style of Catholic holy cards. Brodell conducted archival research, looking at news paper articles, journal entries, and court records in search of people they found a personal kinship with: people who were assigned female at birth, but presented as more masculine than feminine, and who lived outside of heterosexual norms.

The use of the style of Catholic holy cards (handheld, devotional images of saints offering guidance, often shared among family and friends) references Brodell’s Catholic upbringing, and acts as a subversive decision that honors people who would have been abused by the Catholic Church in their lifetime using the church’s own aesthetics.

You can learn more about Ria Brodell and their work at their website here.

Interested in what else is going on at the Fitchburg Art Museum? Check out the official website here.