Just Do It

Women Through the Lens of Time

by Lauren F. Friedman

Opening reception Thu., Jan. 29, 6-8 p.m., free, through March 14, Levy Gallery for the Arts, Galleries at Moore, 20th and Race streets, 215-965-4027, thegalleriesatmoore.org

The potential problem with a show all about women at the gallery of an all-women's college is that it risks being self-congratulatory and predictable. But Meredith Burall, one of seven student curators of "Women Through the Lens of Time" and a senior at Moore, wants to set the record straight. "People think we're all a bunch of feminists," she says. "I'm not."

Lorie Mertes, director of the Galleries at Moore, had the idea for an exhibition to commemorate the college's 160th anniversary. Under her guidance, the students were tasked with curating a show of images drawn from the massive, 180-year-spanning Inquirer archives, that would tell the story of women since the advent of photography.

The final result is an ambitious show that includes images both ordinary and monumental. Sure, there's Mother Theresa at 30th Street Station and Angela Davis behind bulletproof glass, but there's also a tattooed mother comforting her crying son and a harried woman rocking '80s big hair and shoulder pads. Thoughtful juxtapositions abound, like the iconic 1917 image of a suffragette outside the White House hung opposite a contemporary photo of a feisty senior holding a "Register to Vote" placard.

"It does make you feel proud," says Lisa Haskell, another student, hastening to add that she, too, does not consider herself a feminist. It's a dubious claim. With a photo of Susan B. Anthony as witness: What a bunch of feminists, and thank goodness for that.