JOHN WATERS: POPE OF TRASH

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures presents John Waters: Pope of Trash, the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the Queer icon’s contributions to cinema.

Exploring his unmatched moviemaking approach, the exhibition traces 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.

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.

Highlights of never before exhibited objects on view include original handwritten scripts (on legal pads) from early films such as Multiple Maniacs and Pink Flamingos; eyeglasses from Pink Flamingos worn by Mink Stole as Connie Marble, which the Academy Museum has recently acquired and conserved; the electric chair from Female Trouble; Grizelda Brown’s tutu costume from Desperate Living worn by Jean Hill; scratch ’n’ sniff “Odorama” cards used for Polyester ’s theatrical gimmick; the exploding wig worn by Debbie Harry as Velma Von Tussle and Tracy Turnblad’s roach dress worn by Ricki Lake in Hairspray; Cry-Baby’s guitar and leather jackets worn by Johnny Depp and Jonathan Benya as Cry-Baby and Snare-Drum, respectively; the prop lamb leg weaponized by Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) in Serial Mom;the camera used by the eponymous character played by Edward Furlong in Pecker; the skeleton costume worn by Maggie Gyllenhaal as Raven in Cecil B. Demented; and a gas can prop used by Johnny Knoxville’s Ray Ray in A Dirty Shame.

John Waters: Pope of Trash will be accompanied by a retrospective film screening series, preceded by a conversation with Waters and Peaches Christ. Additionally, fans will have the opportunity to meet the filmmaker at a book signing of the exhibition catalogue.

In addition, the Academy Museum Store will launch a coffee table book and an exclusive, first-ever licensed HairsprayPink Flamingos, and Polyester collection in support of the exhibition. The store, which will have a pop-up within the exhibition, will also feature licensed Cry-Baby items as well as merchandise featuring Waters himself. Products will include apparel, ceramics, homeware, and accessories and will feature an exclusive collaboration with Los Angeles-based artist Seth Bogart. 

As part of John Waters: Pope of Trash, the museum will present an augmented reality interactive in which visitors can style themselves as John Waters characters. Using a set of selfie face filters, guests will transform themselves into some of Waters’s most iconic characters, including Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray and Divine in Pink Flamingos.

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