Sunday, October 16, 2016

Maria Goodrick Post #10

Juno Calypso



Juno Calypso started out taking self-portraits while under the persona of a woman she calls Joyce. She was raised by a mother who made sure she knew the history of feminine oppression and struggle. Calypso used other people's homes when the hosts were gone and she was in private. Eventually she continued the series by posing as a travel writer and gaining access to all the suites on a couples-only retreat. 
The main subject of Calypso's work is herself as Joyce. Her photos explore the idea of a woman held under the construct of femininity. Simple things women do to keep up their image turn Calypso into Joyce, such as facial treatments like the green clay and massage masks in the above pictures. This is Calypso's attempt of depicting the ways women augment their image to keep it in line with social constructs of feminine beauty.
Calypso's work is very good at visually conveying the expectations put on women to be "beautiful." They cause women to do all sorts of things to themselves to meet these expectations, and Calypso shows that by turning herself into these creepy semi-monsters. It feels a bit literal to me, but it gets the point across in an accessible way, and I really enjoy it as a medium to let people know about one of the most visual forms of oppression of women.

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