UW News

January 19, 2011

‘Unspeakable: Film, lecture series organized around ‘Suitcase exhibit

UW News

  • Opening reception for The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27, in 220 Odegaard Undergraduate Library.

A film and lecture series will be offered in tandem with the traveling exhibit The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic, now on display in the lobby of the Odegaard Undergraduate Library.

The exhibit displays former patients belongings that were discovered during the closing of the Willard Psychiatric Center, in Romulus, NY, in 1995. (It is also viewable online.)

The film and lecture series is titled Unspeakable: Disability History, Identity, and Rights and will run through March 15. Its sponsored by the UW Disability Studies Program and Student Disability Commission. All the events in the Unspeakable series will be in Room 220 of Odegaard unless otherwise noted, and all are free and open to the public.

The films will begin on Jan. 25, but the opening reception for the exhibit will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27 also in 220 Odegaard. There will be light refreshments and brief remarks.

Poster for 'The Lives They Left Behind,' at OUGL.

Poster for "The Lives They Left Behind," at OUGL.

Events in the series are as follows:

Jan. 25, 5:30 p.m., Film: Lynchburg Story: Eugenic Sterilization in America.

Jan. 27, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., Eli Clare (writer and activist) talk, Resisting Shame, Making Our Bodies Home, 309 Parrington.

Jan 28, 6 p.m., Eli Clare, Yearning Towards Carrie Buck.

Feb. 1, 5:30 p.m., Film: If I Cant Do It

Feb. 3, 6 to 8 p.m., a presentation and discussion with Darby Penney, curator of The Lives They Left Behind.

Feb. 8, 5:30 p.m., Film: Hurry Tomorrow.

Feb. 10, 6 p.m., Geoffrey Reaume (York University) Memorializing Mad Peoples History.

Feb. 14, 4:30 p.m., Philip Ferguson, Chapman University, The Doubting Dance: Contributions to a History of Parent/Professional Interactions in Early 20th Century America.

Feb. 15, 5:30 p.m., Film: In Our Care

Feb. 16, 5:30 p.m., Jennifer Stuber, UW School of Social Work, Transforming the American Conversation about Mental Health. Registration required.

Feb. 17, 6 to 8 p.m., panel discussion, Whats So Today.

Feb. 22, 5:30 p.m., Film: Unforgotten: 25 Years after Willowbrook

Feb. 24, 6 to 8 p.m., panel discussion, What’s So Today for Individuals, personal stories presentation and discussion.

March 1, 6 p.m., Jeffrey Brune, Gallaudet University, Blind Like Me: John Howard Griffin, Disability, and the Fluidity of Identity in Modern America.

March 3, 6 to 8 p.m., panel discussion, What’s So Today in Community, personal stories presentation and discussion.

March 7, 6 p.m., Licia Carlson, Providence College, Gender, Disability, and the Dynamics of Institutionalization.

March 10, 6 to 8 p.m., panel discussion, Turning the Corner to the Future.

March 15, 6 p.m., Joanne Woiak, UW Disability Studies Program, Voices from the Washington Archives: Eugenics and Forced Sterilization in State Institutions.

March 17, 6 to 8 p.m., panel discussion, Whats The Future Hold – World Café.

Learn more about additional events in this series — including a dance performance created in response to the Willard exhibit — online. The Unspeakable series was brought to Odegaard Library by Live Inclusive. For more information about the series, visit online or contact Woiak at jwoiak@uw.edu.