Queens College’s Godwin-Ternbach Museum To Present QUINCEAÑERA: DRESS AND MEMORY IN LATINE CULTURE

The Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College (CUNY) will present Quinceañera: Dress and Memory in Latine Culture, opening with a public reception on Thursday, September 25 from 6–8pm. The exhibition celebrates Latin American culture through the coming-of-age ceremony and the symbolic dress at the heart of the Quinceañera tradition.

This community-focused exhibition features first-person oral histories, personal objects, and documentary materials from New York City’s pan-Latine communities. Visitors will experience a multi-sensory presentation of Quinceañera rites through visual art, fashion, photography, and soundscape. Works on view include Steven Blum’s El Sueño Americano and documentary photographs by Cinthya Santos Briones, alongside handmade fabric flowers created by students in Queens College’s Fashion and Design program.

The exhibition’s soundscape, Hilos y Echos, was developed by the theater company What Will the Neighbors Say? under the direction of Melannie Vásquez Lara. Activated by motion as visitors move through the gallery, the soundscape incorporates interviews exploring themes of family, tradition, and identity.

Organized by Emily Ripley, director of the Fashion and Textiles Program at Queens College, in collaboration with museum co-directors Louise Weinberg and Maria Pio, Quinceañera: Dress and Memory in Latine Culture highlights both historic and evolving forms of the celebration. The exhibition also explores alternative interpretations such as Quinceañeros, Queerceañeras, and performances by artists like Lía García.

The exhibition runs at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, part of the Kupferberg Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, where admission is always free.