Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Based upon the New York Times bestselling book of the same name, this unique exhibition was created by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, in partnership with the book’s co-authors: journalist Irin Carmon, a senior correspondent at New York magazine, and attorney Shana Knizhnik, who founded the popular Tumblr that earned RBG internet fame (and amused the Justice herself), working together with Skirball curator Cate Thurston. Like the book, the exhibition offers a visually rich, entertaining, yet rigorous look at Justice Ginsburg’s life and work. Through archival photographs and documents, contemporary art, media stations, and playful interactives, the exhibition tells the parallel stories of RBG’s remarkable career and the efforts she joined to expand “We the People” to include those long left out of the Constitution’s promises. By bringing to life RBG’s compelling biography and her commitment to our nation’s highest ideals, the exhibition invites visitors to participate in civic life and consider how the future of the Supreme Court impacts us all.

Briefs and other writings by RBG, including some of her famously searing dissents, are woven throughout the exhibit. In keeping with the spirit of Carmon and Knizhnik’s book, the exhibition riffs off the playful connection between Notorious RBG and rapper Notorious B.I.G. (as she likes to point out, they were both born and bred in Brooklyn, New York.) The name of each gallery section alludes to a song or lyric from the late hip-hop artist.

For its Washington, DC stop, the Capital Jewish Museum has added artifacts that connect to RBG’s Jewish life in the capital, including a special collar commissioned for her by Moment Magazine, the mezuzah from the door to her Supreme Court chambers, and artifacts collected from public memorials following her death in 2020.

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the first-ever museum exhibition focused solely on this judicial icon, whose image graces mugs, t-shirts, posters, and bobbleheads. The exhibit is a vibrant exploration of Justice Ginsburg’s life and her numerous, often simultaneous roles as a student, wife, mother, lawyer, judge, women’s rights pioneer, and Internet phenomenon.

The exhibition is organized and circulated by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.