Beauty Knows No Pain

O. Rufus Lovett's photographic series on Kilgore Rangerettes and Leah Devun's portraits of young Houston girls dressed as Hannah Montana come together in Beauty Knows No Pain opening at the Houston Center for Photography Friday February 27, 2009.

There are two other events scheduled in conjunction with this opening:

Thursday February 26, 2009 at 6:30pm there will be a screening of Elliott Erwitt´s film Beauty Knows No Pain, a lecture by O. Rufus Lovett, and a Kilgore Rangerettes performance at the Museum of Fine Arts Brown Auditorium. O. Rufus will also be available to sign books.

Saturday February 28, 2009, 1:00 PM - 2:00pm there will be an artist talk and discussion on girl culture between Leah DeVun and Tracy Karner at HCP.

Borrowing its title from the 1972 documentary by Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt and the slogan of the Kilgore Rangerettes, this two-person exhibition addresses the perception of femininity in contemporary American culture.

Texas photographer O. Rufus Lovett´s celebrated black and white photographs of the Kilgore Rangerettes dance drill team reveal a long-standing tradition of discipline and teamwork towards the achievement of youthful glamour, uniformity, and synchronicity.

Emerging artist Leah DeVun´s color portraits of young Houston girls dressed up as Hannah Montana depict a subset of popular culture fixated on emulating a young female icon. This juxtaposition probes at the varied performative rituals of young American women and girls who, regardless of their socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, desire to embrace celebrity and femininity.