iixbenjinatorxii

[iixbenjinatorxii]

I'm so tired of hookup culture. Why do i have to feel less than for wanting a fucking relationship.

[iixbenjinatorxii]

Pretty in pink, that’s how you could describe Calypso’s work. Minus the pretty part. Juno Calypso, the 1989 London born photographer began to make her debut into the art world whilst attending the London College of Communication in 2012 where she graduated with a BA in Photography. There she took pictures of her alter-ego, ‘Joyce’ an abstract character that over time has become a symbol for the constructed hyper-feminine.

Calypso’s works are so captivating because of the contrast between visuals and atmosphere that she creates, I believe that it is this that makes her images have somewhat of a comedic element in them, rooted from the oddness of the scenarios. In these works, you see this poised figure that experiments in the safety of her isolation towards a goal of beauty in these pastel surroundings that are completely cut from all external factors of reality. When described as a “fantasy” Calypso describes her work for short, in a single image you’re drawn to the self-alienation in it, through the desire that’s met with disappointing loneliness. In her cinematic pieces, emotions are taken to the extreme and you can clearly see the development of ‘Joyce’ when her work is presented chronologically.

In her works, Calypso often strips naked and covers herself in pastel green or blue from head to toe, and while doing she’s been judged as a bad feminist for exhibiting so much of her body, The works that exhibit her body, especially her 2016 ‘A dream in green’, eroticise the female form while at the same time tear down refined expectations of women and that to me counts as feminist. Through the simple fact that feminism advocates for the equality of the sexes in all aspects, even sexual. Then a woman using her body for the sake of art is a form of protest against the patriarchal expectation that women have to cover themselves from the gaze of men while men are not held to the same standard of judgement.

When looking for inspiration Calypso goes to online stores like eBay and with keywords like “sexy”, “pink” and “mask” goes through all of the departments from hair and makeup to gadgets. I can’t comprehend how modern femininity can be summarised by those three words or even the mere fact that a woman can abstruse femininity from personal events into a laboured, uncomfortable concept that mandates beauty, it’s saddening and it shows a lot on how women are still treated in the 21st century. They’re forced to achieve beauty through visual perfection in petrifying fear of rejection. Baited into thinking that idiotic masks, peels, creams, pills and weight-loss vibrators, just to name a few, will make them desirable only to then be judged for using them in the first place.

#Writing #Photography #juno calypso #Essay

[iixbenjinatorxii]

The meaning of life:

Food.