#126 - Penny Slinger, Surrealist Sorceress

Penny Slinger is a Los Angeles–based artist whose work investigates the feminine, the magical and the erotic. In the late 1960s, her encounters with the work of Max Ernst initiated an enduring involvement with both the Surrealist movement and the medium of collage. Her groundbreaking publications such as 50% The Visible Woman (1971) and An Exorcism: A Photo Romance (1977) explore the image of woman through a series of often provocative photomontage self-portraits, and a new expanded edition of An Exorcism will be published by Fulgur Press later this year. Her studies of various divine feminine practices including Tantra led her to co-create The Secret Dakini Oracle deck in the 1970s, and the deck is still in print now under the name The Tantric Dakini Oracle Deck, and she has continued to work with dakini imagery over decades.

Penny’s work is in many international museum collections, including Tate Britain, and was included in the Tate’s recent exhibition “Women in Revolt!” Other notable exhibitions showcasing Penny’s work include “The Dark Monarch” at Tate Gallery St Ives, “Angels of Anarchy” at Manchester Art Museum, and countless solo shows around the world. She also recently collaborated with House of Dior, and, as you’ll hear, has many more projects in the works.

On this episode, Penny Slinger discusses her self-celebrating surrealist art practice, her lifelong devotion to the divine feminine, and how she’s celebrating aging in her work and in her life.

Pam also talks about older witch archetypes, and answers a listener question about embracing the magic of middle age.

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