Upcoming Special Exhibitions

Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross

September 22, 2019 – January 12, 2020

Main Special Exhibition Space

Excavating the box of negatives and documents Henryk Ross buried in the ghetto at 12 Jagielonska Street, Lodz, March 1945. © Art Gallery of Ontario.

Memory Unearthed offers an extraordinarily rare glimpse of life inside the Lodz Ghetto during its existence from 1940 to 1944, through the lens of Polish Jewish photojournalist Henryk Ross (1910–1991).

This exhibit presents more than 300 of Ross’s powerful photographs, comprising a moving, intimate visual record of the Holocaust. The images are accompanied by artifacts, including Ross’s own identity card, and ghetto notices. An album of contact prints, handcrafted by Ross and shown in its entirety as the centerpiece of the exhibition, serves as a summation of his memories, capturing his personal narrative.

Organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

February 9 – August 16, 2020

Main Special Exhibition Space

Notorious RBG book cover illustration by Adam Johnson. Courtesy of HarperCollins. Photographs: Crown © by Hurst Photo/Shutterstock; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a vibrant, comprehensive exploration of Justice Ginsburg’s life and her numerous, often-simultaneous roles as a student, wife, mother, lawyer, judge, women’s rights pioneer, and Internet phenomenon. The exhibition tells Ginsburg’s story using a dynamic array of gallery interactives, listening stations, archival photographs and documents, historical artifacts, and contemporary art. Based on the book and Tumblr page of the same name, Notorious RBG is the first-ever museum exhibition focused solely on the judicial icon.

Exhibition highlights:

• A robe and jabot from RBG’s Supreme Court wardrobe.
• Home videos of RBG with her husband, Martin “Marty” Ginsburg, on their honeymoon and in the early years of their marriage.
• The official portraits of RBG and Sandra Day O’Connor, the first two women to serve on the Supreme Court, on loan from the National Portrait Gallery.
• 3D reimaginations of key places in RBG’s life, including:
  • Her childhood Brooklyn apartment, where visitors can flip through the Nancy Drew books Ruth Bader loved as a girl, among other items, and get a feel for her Jewish upbringing
  • The kitchen in RBG and Marty’s home, featuring some of Marty’s favorite recipes and cooking utensils
  • The Supreme Court bench, where visitors can dress up in a robe and jabot and imagine making their own opinions heard
  • The desk in her chambers, where visitors can view the 2018–2019 Supreme Court calendar and grasp cases to be decided in the current term.

Exhibition curated by the Skirball Cultural Center.