The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures presents John Waters: Pope of Trash
The first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the eponymous artist’s contributions to cinema, opening on September 17, 2023. Exploring his process, themes, and unmatched moviemaking approach, the exhibition will trace the grotesque, daring, tacky, hilarious, and salacious elements that recur throughout Waters’s sixty-year career of filmmaking and reveal how his movies have redefined independent cinema. The exhibition is curated by Exhibitions Curator Jenny He and Associate Curator Dara Jaffe. A robust film program complementing the exhibition will begin with a screening of Serial Mom (1994) on September 17 and continue with an extensive retrospective. An adjacent installation highlights other radically independent filmmakers who also champion unconventional modes of film production and distribution.
On view through August 4, 2024, in the museum’s Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery, John Waters: Pope of Trash journeys through Waters’s complete filmography, from his do-it-yourself independent beginnings to his rebellious Hollywood productions, including four shorts and twelve feature films. Collaborating closely with Waters—anointed the “Pope of Trash” by author William S. Burroughs—as well as members of his casts and crews, Jenny He and Dara Jaffe selected more than 400 works for the exhibition, many of which have never been displayed publicly.
Visitors will enter the exhibition through an introductory gallery featuring an abstract church setting that winks at several aspects of Waters’s personal history and filmmaking. A gallery exploring the filmmaker’s early life and works includes Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (1964)—Waters’s first film, an 8mm short made when he was 17 years old— as well as Roman Candles (1967), and Eat Your Makeup (1968). Individual feature films—Mondo Trasho (1969), Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972), Female Trouble (1974), Desperate Living(1977), Polyester (1981), Hairspray (1988), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), Cecil B. Demented (2000), and A Dirty Shame (2004)—are explored in depth through works such as handwritten scripts, costumes, props, posters, correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, and film clips.
At the center of the exhibition is an experiential gallery highlighting the recurrence of music and dance throughout Waters’s films. The exhibition concludes with a gallery dedicated to Waters’s cult status, featuring fan art and other nods to the filmmaker’s career.
For more information visit: www.academymuseum.org