Girlhood: as we were taught

Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design is pleased to welcome Girlhood: as we were taught curated by Kelsey Watson, beginning October 5, 2026. Join us for the opening reception on Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. in the Centre’s Loft.

Girlhood begins with watching. We watch the people around us. Our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, friends, and communities. We learn how they create, carry traditions, navigate expectations, and care for others and for themselves. Some lessons are intentional. Some are simply absorbed.

Girlhood: as we were taught explores how these lessons move through generations. The exhibition considers what we inherit, what we carry forward, and what we choose to change. Drawing from family histories, cultural knowledge, domestic life, motherhood, and childhood experiences, the artists reflect on the ways traditions, stories, and ways of making and caring become part of who we are.

Across the exhibition, making becomes a way of remembering and reimagining. The works explore memory, identity, and care while honoring what has been passed down and questioning the expectations that shape what we keep.

Girlhood isn’t something we outgrow. We continue to watch, learn, and absorb from those around us. What we inherit becomes part of how we understand ourselves. We choose what to keep, question, or transform, and in turn, we become part of what the next generation watches.