Juno Calypso At The Sarabande Foundation
By Something CuratedOn 27 March, artist Juno Calypso will be speaking at the Sarabande Foundation as part of the organisation’s on-going events programme, the Inspiration Series. Calypso’s work spans photography, film and installation and touches upon themes of solitude, desire and femininity. The majority of her works are self-portraits with an unmistakable dark and comedic angle.
The artist’s credits are impressive; Calypso has worked with Burberry on directing their 2018 Christmas campaign, and collaborated recently with Takashi Murakami on photographing popular American singer Billie Eilish for Garage Magazine. She has also won a number of awards, from the BJP International Photography Award in 2015 to the Royal Photography Society Vic Odden Award in 2018.
Calypso’s journey into the art world begun at London College of Communication, where she studied photography. The artist would take pictures of herself in her grandma’s clothes, in disguise as a character named ‘Joyce,’ and later took this character to a hotel in America where she staged a series of self-portraits.
Her latest project is entitled What to do With A Million Years. The work comprises staged photographs in a mansion built underneath Las Vegas in the 70s as a shelter from nuclear terror, and currently owned by a mystery group attempting to achieve immortality. According to Calypso, “A camera is just a mirror with a memory.” Her philosophy is simple yet exhilarating, making her one of the most promising contemporary artists to follow. You can get tickets for Juno Calypso’s upcoming talk at the Sarabande Foundation here.
Words by Sara Frazier | Feature image: A Dream In Green, 2015. © Juno Calypso (via Juno Calypso)