A transgender grandparent is the focus of an exhibit at the Boston Children’s Museum. The show is closing soon, but the creators want to tour with it. Here’s how you can help make that happen.
“Mimi’s Family” is a collaboration of photographer Matthew Clowney, a Providence-based artist and professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, and exhibit designer Margaret Middleton. It shows the everyday life of Erica (aka Mimi) Tobias, a transgender grandparent, and her family. Clowney worked closely with them so that the photographs respectfully depict their love and commitment. The exhibit also contains “open-ended questions [in English and Spanish] that encourage visitors to discuss their families and reflect on differences and similarities.”
You can see some of the photos in the video below, which Clowney and Middleton created for an Indiegogo campaign earlier this year. They raised only about $10,000 of their $15,000 goal, however, and are seeking additional donations through Clowney’s website.
I commend the Boston Children’s Museum, a major destination for Beantowners and visitors alike, for hosting this exhibit. It’s part of their commitment to showcasing local artist and their “history of creating exhibits that address differences and similarities, and topics that can be hard to discuss such as death, disabilities, and race.”
I hope some of you will consider a donation to help the creators bring it to even more locations and offer even more ancillary resources like books about family diversity. (I don’t know them, however, and the usual caveats apply when donating money to anyone online.) If you’re in the Boston area, catch it before it closes on December 13. If not, and you want it in your town, consider reaching out to your own local venues that might be interested in hosting it.
