Imaging Women in the Space Age

Curated By: Julie Wosk

Imaging Women in the Space Age showcases the achievements of America’s pioneering female astronauts and highlights the fascination with space women in movies, television, advertising, fashion design and today’s toys. From the earliest moon goddesses to today’s galactic fashions, visions of females in space have sparked the creative imagination.

On display in the exhibition are vintage and current images of female space travelers in television shows like Lost in Space and Star Trek, photographs of space-inspired fashions including Pucci’s designs for Braniff Airlines flight attendants and Chanel’s 2017 futuristic dresses, and screenshots from films like Barbarella (1968) starring Jane Fonda and Gravity (2013), which starred Sandra Bullock.

The exhibition reminds us of the groundbreaking achievements of pioneering astronauts with photographs of Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space; Mae Jemison, America’s first African American female astronaut; and Ellen Ochoa, America’s first Hispanic woman to go into space.

The exhibition also reflects a world where important changes are underway as more and more women are participating in NASA’s space program as astronauts and as astronautical engineers. It reveals innovative new developments in space suits specifically designed for women.

About the Curator: Wosk is a professor emerita of English, art history, and studio painting at SUNY Maritime in New York City. The author of four books, Wosk gave a presentation of “My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Androids, and Other Artificial Eves” at Harvard University.