Basque Museum Exhibit Honors Basque Women

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Have you been to the Basque Museum in Boise, Idaho? You know the one. The ONLY Basque museum in the United States? Right there in the middle of the Basque Block.

Well, I wish I were in Boise right now because they have a new exhibit that looks awesome.

Inner Strength: Portraits of Basque Women is an exhibit dedicated to highlighting the Basque women of our communities. Even more remarkably, it’s in English, Basque, French, and Spanish!

Inner Strength draws on more than 100 interviews with Basque American women and features black and white photos of them by Peter Oberlindacher. 

It’s pretty rare to come across a project dedicated solely to Basque women in the United States, so I highly recommend anyone around Boise this year to check it out.

Annie Gavica, Executive Director of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, describes the origins on the project:

“This exhibit started as a small research project in the late ’90s with Begona Pecharroman when she traveled to Boise to interview some women that immigrated from the Basque Country. It featured about 30 interviews and beautiful black and white photos by Peter Oberlindacher. About 5 years later, Patty Miller, Executive Director at the Basque Museum at the time and who helped with the first series, worked with Begona and Peter to add to the list about 10-11 interviews and photos. Last year, as part of the Basque Community History Project, this project was revived and they met their goal of interviewing more than 100 women. 110, to be exact. Ten of which are first generation between 90-102 years old. The other great part of this project is that it features women from Idaho, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Utah.”

To celebrate the opening of this historic exhibit on April 26th, the Basque Museum hosted a private viewing with 44 of the women from the exhibit and some of the women’s family members. Some came from as far as Chino, California.

Afterwards, a presentation was open to the public at the Basque Center where Patty Miller, Begona Pecharroman, Peter Oberlindacher, and several of the women featured in the exhibit spoke about the project and their experiences.

An impressive 300 people viewed the exhibit in the first 2 hours!

 

Along with the exhibit, there is a book for sale with all of the photos and interview excerpts from the exhibit in English, Basque, French, and Spanish. A nice touch for those of us who may not be able to travel to see it in person. You can buy it here.

 

 

If you live or have plans to be in the Boise area this year, please go visit the Basque Museum and let me know how you like this exhibit. It just opened a few weeks ago, but it will be around all year.

You can see more information about Inner Strength: Portraits of Basque Women here.

 

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