Created by El Kydd, this deck of cards showcases 60 dykes across 54 cards
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGES BY EL KYDD
Have you ever dreamt about having an entire deck of cards covered in the faces of your favourite dykes? If so, you’re in luck. London-based artist Ellen (El) Kydd has created The London Dyke Deck, full of 60 incredible dykes across a 54-card set of standard playing cards. Perfect for both solitaire and celebrating our incredible dyke community.
This dykonic deck of cards all started when El visited London’s National Portrait Gallery. El saw American photographer Catherine Opie’s solo show entitled To Be Seen. This show featured a poker event led by Gemma Rolls-Bentley using Catherine’s beloved Dyke Deck.
Let me take you back to 1995 quickly. Featuring studio-based portraits of San Francisco’s queer community, Catherine released a pack of cards called the Dyke Deck. Naturally, the deck has gained global adoration as an iconic document of the dyke scene.
El wondered what their own dyke mates would look like as a pack of cards. With Catherine’s blessing, El began taking photographs to document London’s contemporary dyke scene in all its glory. Shooting these photographs using AUTOFOTO photobooths across London, El allowed subjects to be left alone with their own reflection, choosing their preferred frame to create self-made and self-identified snapshots of dyke life. The choice to use a photobooth was a conscious one. Historically, photobooths have allowed queer people the space to create their own images without being “outed” by the outside world.
The deck includes dykes such as actor Libro Levi Bridgeman, photographer Cherry Au and designer Jupi Maghribi. DIVA fans will also be quick to spot that the eight of hearts is none other than our editor-in-chief, Roxy Bourdillon.
Within this deck, El has playfully explored contemporary language in dyke culture: femmes as hearts, butches as clubs, trans dykes as diamonds and non-binary dykes as spades. Each subject was asked to self-identify with one of these suits. “Whilst our tongues may utter certain scholar and squabble, aligned with the social conditionings of the epoch in which we are born, these terms act as indicators to an identity… not exact definition,” El says. “To ‘de-fine’ some thing or some body, literally infers to ‘put an end’ to it, as though language is a rigid set of closed thoughts, that meaning behind language is either right or wrong.”
This deck also spotlights the vast skill sets of London dykes. The logo was designed by Dylan Saul using traditional lino-cutting techniques, and artist Eleanor Cox has written an essay entitled A Game Of Flats in response to the deck, which is available to read alongside the London Dyke Deck.
Partnering with Gaysians, a platform founded by Rain Reeta Loi, a percentage of the sales from The London Dyke Deck will go towards the organisation. Working since 2017, Gaysians is a movement highlighting South Asian LGBTQIA+ voices.
You can join El in discussion with Gemma Rolls-Bentley at The Photographer’s Gallery on 10 September at 6 pm. This evening will also bring together many of the featured London dykes, with the opportunity to also have your portrait taken in an original analogue AUTOFOTO photobooth.
The London Dyke Deck will be available to purchase directly via El at londondyke.com and you can follow instagram.com/thelondondyke for updates.
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