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Juno Calypso (born 1989) is a British photographer. Her self-portraits are personal works about feminism, isolation, loneliness and being self-sufficient. Working alone, Calypso has made highly stylised photographs of herself whilst dressed as a fictional alter-ego, "Joyce", in unusual surroundings. She also works as a commercial photographer.

Calypso was joint winner of the British Journal of Photography International Photography Award in 2016. In 2018 she received the Vic Odden Award from the Royal Photographic Society.

Life and work

Calypso was born in Hackney, London in 1989. She gained an Art Foundation Diploma from Chelsea College of Arts (University of the Arts London) in 2008 and a BA in Photography from London College of Communication (University of the Arts London) in 2012.

For her personal work, working alone Calypso has photographed highly stylised self-portraits of herself whilst costumed as a fictional alter-ego, "Joyce", a "bored, frustrated, lonely housewife of her imagination", in unfamiliar, unusual and over-the-top surroundings.

For her series Joyce, Calypso photographed herself in various hotel rooms. The work is about the "oppressive elements of femininity", its "restrictive beauty regimes and modern rituals of seduction". She has said "I'm trying to make a perfect photograph of a woman trying to create a perfect vision of herself."

In The Honeymoon series, she photographed herself alone in an American couples-only honeymoon resort. Nell Frizzell wrote in The Guardian that "there is a sense of airless claustrophobia about much of Calypso’s work. But in the Honeymoon Hotel pictures, that frustration is twinned with loneliness." Alexandra Genova wrote in Time that her "work is a delicate dance between comedy and despair."

Calypso has said:

I used to take pictures of Joyce as a way of making a critique on the laboured construction of femininity, but now I’m starting to see that the problem isn’t the make-up and bizarre body improvement devices, but the way society treats women who invest so deeply in their appearance."

She also works as a commercial photographer.

Publications with contributions by Calypso

• The Catlin Art Guide: New Artists in the UK. Catlin Holdings, 2013. By Justin Hammond. ISBN 978-0956457035.
• It's Nice That Annual. London: It's Nice That, 2013.
• Mossless 4: Public/Private/Portrait. Brooklyn, NY: Romke Hoogwaerts; New York: International Center of Photography, 2016. ISBN 978-0692712399.
• Girl on Girl: Art and Photography in the Age of the Female Gaze. London: Laurence King, 2017. By Charlotte Jansen. ISBN 978-1780679556.
• Firecrackers: Female Photographers Now. London: Thames & Hudson, 2017. By Fiona Rogers and Max Houghton. ISBN 978-0500544747.

Short films

• The Linda Evans Rejuvenique Facial Toning System (2012)
• Empty Pleasures (2012)
• The Making of Joyce (2014)
• The Honeymoon Suite (2015)

Awards

• 2013: Winner, Visitor Vote, Catlin Art Prize, XL Catlin
• 2016: Joint winner, British Journal of Photography International Photography Award, for Joyce. The other winner was Felicity Hammond.
• 2016: One of 24 selected, Foam Talent Call, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam
• 2018: Vic Odden Award, Royal Photographic Society, Bath

Solo exhibitions

• Artist of the Day, selected by Tom Hunter, Flowers Gallery, London, 2015
• 71a Presents: Juno Calypso, 71a Gallery, London, October 2015
• What to Do with a Million Years, TJ Boulting, London, May–June 2018; Studio Giangaleazzo Visconti, Milan, Italy, 2018/2019

See also

• Cindy Sherman
• Petra Collins
• Petra Cortright
• Christto & Andrew

References

1. Great Women Artists. Phaidon Press. 2019. p. 83. ISBN 978-0714878775.
2. "Photographers' most intriguing alter egos". Dazed. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
3. ^ Coop, Elizabeth (12 October 2016). "Photos exploring the isolation of a one-woman honeymoon". Dazed. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
4. ^ Genova, Alexandra. "This Photographer Turns the Feminine Ideal on its Head". Time. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
5. ^ "Juno Calypso's solitary exploration of femininity". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
6. "Juno Calypso's best photograph: voyeurism in a pink cold-war bunker". The Guardian. 3 January 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
7. "Juno Calypso". unseenamsterdam.com. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
8. "Juno Calypso". Marguerite. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
9. "Juno Calypso checks in solo at a surreal honeymoon hotel". Huck Magazine. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
10. ^ "Juno Calypso – Wonderland". Wonderland. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
11. ^ "One to Watch: Juno Calypso, artist, 23". The Independent. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
12. "01/06/2017, The Arts Show - BBC Radio Ulster". BBC. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
13. ^ Frizzell, Nell (2 July 2015). "'I sounded like I was having the best sex': Juno Calypso's one-woman world tour of honeymoon hotels". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
14. "Juno Calypso's 3D renderings take form at Galeria Melissa in London". Wallpaper. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
15. "Artificial Sweeteners". Dazed. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
16. "Challenging and Strange Portraits of Femininity". Slate. 6 April 2014. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
17. ^ Mackenzie-Smith, Stevie (21 December 2015). "juno calypso's staged self-portraits reveal the hidden labour of women behind bathroom doors". I-d. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
18. ^ "This photographer went on a one-woman honeymoon". Dazed. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
19. Dazed (6 April 2017). "A comprehensive guide to girl on girl photography". Dazed. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
20. "Artist Terry Ryu Kim named winner of the Catlin Art Prize 2013 Juno Calypso wins the Visitor Vote - FAD Magazine". FAD Magazine. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
21. "Juno Calypso: 'It can get lonely and weird'". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
22. "Winners of the BJP International Photography Awards 2016 announced". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
23. "Foam Talent Call". Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
24. "Show: FOAM Talent tips 24 young artists for the top". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
25. "The Royal Photographic Society Awards 2018". www.rps.org. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
26. "Artist of the Day 2015". Flowers Gallery.
27. "Aesthetica Magazine - Interview with Juno Calypso, Artist and LCC Graduate". Aesthetica Magazine. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
28. Frankel, Eddy. "Juno Calypso: What to do with a million years". Time Out London. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
29. "What To Do With A Million Years by Juno Calypso – British Journal of Photography". www.bjp-online.com. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
30. Dazed (15 May 2018). "Juno Calypso's new surreal underground photo series is creepy AF". Dazed. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
31. "Juno Calypso: Studio Giangaleazzo Visconti". Vogue.it. 30 September 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2021.

External links

• Official website
• "Juno Calypso's Five Favourite Objects" for British Vogue (video)
• Calypso talk for It's Nice That in 2016 (video)
• Calypso talk for It's Nice That in 2017 (video)

• 1989 births
• Living people
• 21st-century British photographers
• 21st-century British women photographers
• 21st-century English women artists
• Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts
• Alumni of the London College of Communication
• Conceptual photographers
• English women photographers
• British feminist artists
• People from Hackney, London
• Photographers from the London Borough of Hackney