In this episode, Bates first-year Carly Philpott and Monmouth Academy senior Izzy Hamann use photography to dive into the rich history of women and the LGBTQ+ community in Northampton, Massachusetts. Through this, they attempt to find some context in Donna Ferrato’s 1994 image of Ketta McGraw and Jaye Pope holding their first child, entitled Immaculate Conception. They cover topics such as the place of same-sex relationships in popular media and culture. Carly and Izzy also discuss the mural included in Ferrato’s photograph, which depicts women in Northampton in several centuries of women’s rights movements spanning from 1600-1980 and reinforces Ferrato’s feminist message. In order to unpack the visual meaning of this composition, an overview of women’s civil rights is covered and how minorities of race, class, and sexuality affected the future of women such as McGraw and Pope starting a family. Ferrato’s other photography will also be included in this analysis in order to compare and contrast to Immaculate Conception.

Click here for a transcription and bibliography as well as images of the work’s discussed in today’s episode.

This podcast is part of the Crop and Click series featuring student research on documentary photography from our collection. ⁠Click here for a portfolio of all the works discussed in the series.

Hosted and produced by Carly Philpott and Izzy Hamann. Cover art by Lucy Sherman ’23.