Step aside boys, this is for Girls Only

“I found that the art world, especially in London, is really closed off and exclusive,” says London-born curator Antonia Marsh. After studying art history at Bristol University, Marsh moved to San Francisco to do a Master’s degree in curating. Through her experience at commercial galleries and museums, she found the art world to be highly elitist, exclusive and mostly male-dominated. So she is taking matters into her own hands.

Last week saw Marsh set up a pop-up gallery space showcasing artwork – made exclusively by girls – in one of London’s busiest tube stations. To inspire a new generation of women through art, she founded Girls Only, a studio residency programme, curatorial body, gallery, and event space that is fighting the exclusivity and disparity between the sexes in NYC and London. The programme doesn’t stop there: it also proffers these artists a “space not to be self-conscience about (their) work,” explains Marsh.

Much of the artwork on display at Old Street tube tackle real-life issues that girls often face. Selected drawings by artist Alba Hodsoll “are meditations on the female form. The body has become almost excessively linear and my drawings exacerbate such an effect with the stark white empty spaces emphasizing all that has been cut away or slimmed down.” Hanah Amber Young's photographs portray “a powerful force running freely across its mountains and throughout its stories. These stories of women’s wildish nature have been lost over time and forgotten, not only in deserts, but within women themselves.”

To spread the love, Marsh also set up a “little mail art exchange project" where she will personally handpaint the Girls Only logo on a t-shirt of your choice and send it back to you, all free of charge of course (save for the shipping costs).

Read more about the Girls Only project here