Girls Only presents “Pistil! Pistol!” at Celestine Eleven, London

“Pistil! Pistol!” comprises the work of NYC-based photographer Kelsey Bennett, who also takes on a curatorial role, and London-based collaborator Kirsty Buchanan who developed her own response to Bennett’s figurative explorations of Hermann Rorschach’s infamous psychological test, which formed the basic genesis of the exhibition concept.

The Rorschach test was created as a tool in analysis, utilizing the surreal and uncertain shapes created by its designer to determine the psychological sensibilities of those submitted to face its puzzling symmetries. While each card represents the psyche behind a relationship or the human condition more generally, Bennett and Buchanan position their efforts more specifically in response to the two inkblots known as Card Six and Card Seven.

The former, also known as the Sex Card, is designed to reveal people’s subconscious sexual associations including their level of dominance and erotic activity. The latter, in comparison, represents the Mother Card, and in typical Oedipal fashion, determines an individual’s feelings about female figures in his or her life whether positive or negative. The manifestations of these cards and their psychological associations in the works in the exhibition inform one another both in form and content.

Girls Only, founded by Antonia Marsh, is a studio residency program, curatorial body, gallery and event space, aimed at supporting female artists in London and New York. In the tradition of feminist trailblazers such as Judy Chicago and Marina Abramovic, the transatlantic collective functions as an experimental arts community, working to inspire intelligent conversation, creativity, and expression, while ushering in a renaissance for a new generation of young female artists. Photo Flo Kohl

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter