Will You Pass?

The Strand Test is a series of introspective works by Lawrence artist Molly Murphy, inspired by an invasive, anxiety-inducing test.
The 10 ink and colored-pencil drawings on display at The Bourgeois Pig (6 East Ninth Street in Lawrence, 785-843-1001) through September 22 are based on the premise of hair-strand testing, which is often used to determine whether someone has used drugs. Murphy’s works explore whether a single strand of hair could also hold a person’s experiences. “I started thinking of the idea that memory is carried inside one strand of hair,” she says. “Each [drawing] kind of carries lengths of thought for me.”
On first look, Murphy’s works appear girlish. The female figures are large-eyed and pixieish, but their fixated expressions and the strange accompanying images indicate that there is much more to Murphy’s “evidence” than meets the eye.

Sept. 12-22, 2007