Purse-onas photo exhibit to open at ESSE purse museum
ESSE Purse Museum at 1510 Main St. in Little Rock will open an exciting new exhibit by Atlanta photographer Jason Travis on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Purse-onas, which runs through Sunday, March 13, was carefully selected from Travis’ much larger Persona exhibit and features 18 of his photo diptychs shot between 2011 and 2015.
The staff at ESSE couldn’t be happier to showcase Travis’ work, which features photo portraits of people of all ages above a photo of each person’s bag or purse and its contents, offering an intimate look into the lives of others.
In conjunction with the exhibit’s opening, ESSE will resume “The ESSE Purse Project,” an online exhibit of visitors’ and other willing participants’ purses/briefcases/backpacks and their contents.
The beautiful photos by Jason Travis seem tailor-made for the purse museum’s permanent exhibit, “What’s Inside: A Century of Women and Handbags.” The permanent exhibit focuses on the 20th-century American woman and her development, as shown through handbags and their contents. Travis’ photos (and “The ESSE Purse Project’) bring the concept into the current decade – and include men.
ESSE Purse Museum is one of only three brick-and-mortar museums dedicated to the art of the handbag, and its collection numbers more than 4,000 purses; in 2014 SmarterTravel.com named ESSE one of the world’s hottest new museums.
Purse-onas by Jason Travis runs Wednesday, Jan. 13, through Sunday, March 13. ESSE Purse Museum & Store is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students, seniors and military; free for children under 6. For more information, contact Laura Hardy or Devin Williams at 501-916-9022 or [email protected].