Presented in conjunction with CPW in Kingston, the exhibition is curated by Bard College art historians Tom Wolf and Laurie Dahlberg, and is the first full-scale retrospective of the artists, both longtime Woodstock residents.   

During the 1970s and ‘80s, photographers Colleen Kenyon (American, 1951-2022) and Kathleen Kenyon (American, 1951-2023) were part of the women artists’ movement that challenged the photographic establishment with innovative approaches to the medium. Colleen Kenyon made hand-colored portraits of herself and her identical twin sister, while her sister, Kathleen Kenyon, appropriated gender-specific images of women from the mass media to create ironic photomontages. During the 1980s and ‘90s, the Kenyon sisters served as Director (Colleen) and Associate Director (Kathleen) of the Center for Photography at Woodstock. 

My Sister, My Self also features photographs by other identical twin women artists.  Frances McLaughlin-Gill and Kathryn McLaughlin Abbe were successful fashion photographers, as well as co-authors of the book Twins on Twins. Another pair of sisters, Ellen Kahn and Lynda Kahn, are Emmy award-winning artists known for their futuristic self-portraits and bold, graphic tableaux. By including work by other twin women artists, My Sister, My Self contextualizes the rarified world of twins while exploring visual dualities and women’s identities in post Roe v. Wade America.

These “twin exhibitions” are presented in collaboration with the Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW), where additional works from the exhibition are on view. CPW is located at 25 Dederick Street, Kingston, N.Y. 12401. CPW gallery hours are Thursday-Sunday, 11–5 PM

This exhibition is accompanied by a hardcover catalog, My Sister, My Self: Photographs by Colleen Kenyon and Kathleen Kenyon, with text by Tom Wolf, Laurie Dahlberg, and CPW Curator Adam Giles Ryan.

More information about the CPW exhibition: https://bit.ly/mysistermyself

Opening reception at Kleinert/James:
Saturday, January 18, 2025, 2-4 PM

Opening reception at CPW:
Saturday, January 18, 2025, 5-8 PM