Rites of Passage
Celebrating Rooms of Our Own
from Girlhood through Elderhood
June 7-10, 2013
The Whitney Center for the Arts, Pittsfield, MA
Rites of Passage was a "living museum" of ritual theatre & installation epically sprawled throughout 24 rooms of a historic mansion - each room representing an archetypal stage or theme of initiation in women's lives from birth to death.
Conceived & Directed by Pooja Prema, the project involved around 60 women age 3- 89 (and 3 men). 8 years later, a new incarnation of Rites of Passage called 20/20 Vision - took place in 2021 in the same venue.
The Rites of Passage Project is itself an evolving movement to reclaim + celebrate women's initiations through ritual, performance and multimedia art.
Photos: Peggy Reeves + Sabine Vollmer von Falken
Video trailer footage filmed by Cindy Parrish + edited by Mayumi Fujikawa