A Focus on the Feminine Comes to Gallery 169 on Feb. 21
A sampling of photos from the upcoming exhibit, Femina: A Pop-Up Exhibition Considering the Female Gaze
By Laurel Busby
News & Information Editor
Nine female photographers will bring an array of portraits and self-portraits to Gallery 169 for a Feb. 21-22 event titled Femina: A Pop-Up Exhibition Considering the Female Gaze.
Photographer Sal Taylor Kydd
“The photographers are all exploring the idea of femininity through a very personal lens,” said curator and photographer Sal Taylor Kydd, a former Canyon resident. “The work is just so beautiful, and each photographer brings their own unique sensibility.”
Five of the artists, Alexandra De Furio, Aline Smithson, Catherine Just, Erica Kelly Martin, and Sarah Hadley, are Angelenos, and, along with Taylor Kydd, they will be available at an Feb. 21 reception from 5-8 p.m. to talk about their work. Jo Ann Chaus, Shari Yantra Marcacci, and Jennifer McClure will also be featured in the exhibit.
Instead of focusing solely on her own work, Taylor Kydd, who has had two previous solo shows at Gallery 169, formed a collective of photographers for the show.
“I thought that I’d love to celebrate the work of these women who I really admire,” Taylor Kydd said. “I’m really interested in lifting up women’s voices. I’ve found such great friendships and support through my fellow artists.”
Before centering her career on photography, Taylor Kydd, who grew up outside London, England, worked as a project manager for Yahoo movies and television. She first lived in Australia, and in about 2000, she moved to Los Angeles, where she met her husband, Steven Kydd. The couple eventually married and raised two children, Oliver, 20, and Lola, 19, who both attended Canyon Elementary.
In 2008, when her children were in preschool, her stepfather passed away, and his death inspired her to reflect on what she wanted to do with the remainder of her life.
“Photography had already been a real passion,” Taylor Kydd said. “But I was at a point where I was ready to explore my photography more deeply, expanding the possibilities of the medium.”
A photo by Erica Kelly Martin in Femina.
A few years later, she began a low-residency master of fine arts program at Maine Media Workshops and College, where she graduated in 2018. That same year, after eight years of living in the Canyon on East Rustic Road, the family moved to Maine, a state they had often visited because her husband grew up there.
Since then, Taylor Kidd has been both creating art and teaching either online or in-person at varied schools, including her alma mater, Los Angeles Center for Photography, Santa Fe Workshops, and Nord Photography in Norway. She also conducts destination photography retreats in Maine, Tuscany, and Paris.
Her solo work has focused on memory, personal history, and understanding where we come from and who we are.
“I think these are things that all of the exhibition’s artists connect to,” Taylor Kydd said. “They’re very much exploring an internal expression of femininity. It’s not about the surface or traditional ideals of beauty. It’s about stories that are being told.”
Femina: A Pop-up Exhibition Considering the Female Gaze will be at Gallery 169 (169 W. Channel Rd.) at the opening reception on Feb. 21 from 5-8 p.m. and by appointment on Feb. 22.
One of Sal Taylor Kydd’s photos, which is part of the Femina exhibit.
