Women Inspire: California Women Changing our World

During the height of the COVID pandemic, I was given the opportunity to work on this long¬-term exhibit at the California Museum in Sacramento, CA. Developed in collaboration with the Museum and California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the exhibit explores more than 250 Golden State women, from the 1700s to the present, who inspire change.

The first part of the gallery features a gallery highlighting leaders in the fight for equality, from early suffragettes to contemporary equal rights leaders. The space features interactive digital exhibits, as physical interactive exhibits, that are designed to promote meaningful discourse.

The second half of the gallery is dedicated to contemporary women that are leading the way in different ways and fields. These include women you have heard of, like Nancy Pelosi and Sally Ride, while others are new voices that inspire women.

I was given the opportunity to work on an all–new signature exhibit for the California Museum in Sacramento that explores the history of Chinese Americans in California from the Gold Rush to the present day.

“Gold Mountain: Chinese California Stories” tells the story of Chinese immigrants over the past 150 years. In their stories, visitors see the contribution that Californians of Chinese descent have made to the state’s economy, governance, and culture; all while triumphing over racism and other obstacles with ingenuity and perseverance.

Role

Director of Design

Employer

West Office Exhibition Design

Client

California Museum, Sacramento CA

Team Members

Steve Wiersema (Principal at West Office)
Ozan Sirvanlioglu (Lead 3D Designer)
Henrike Yama (Graphic Designer)
Jonah Most (Content Developer)

Duration

10 Months

Size

2,500 sq. ft.

Photos

Photos courtesy of West Office.

A large touchscreen database enables visitors to learn about every woman featured in the gallery by providing a place to access biographical details, photos, and videos that convey information about the lives and accomplishments of these pioneers.

While the gallery was design in a way to allow a linear narrative to be told, each exhibit element was conceived in a way that would allow the information to be conveyed from multiple sides. This created an open-ended experience that didn’t confine the visitors to a single path.

This interactive exhibit explores the different, and subtle, forms that sexism takes in our language. Visitors chouse whether or not they think a given word is sexist, and then they are given the chance to discuss their reasoning with other visitors at the table.

At this interactive media exhibit visitors can explore personalized inspirational videos that others have created, or they can create their own and share it with the world.

Visitors can explore contemporary leaders, innovators, artists, and pioneers through a combination of artifact displays, graphics, and digital media.

Process

Since the space was occupied by two existing exhibits, our first course of action was to do a detailed analysis of the site in order to identify what we can reuse, what we need to remove, and any infrastructure improvements than twill need to be made. We documented those in an early drawing package sent to the GC in order to give them as much time as possible to get done.

WOMEN INSPIRE – FINAL INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGE 12-20-19

Following the initial infrastructure improvement package, the focus shifted on defining the flow of the space and the overall feel of the space including the graphics, media, and custom structures.