Inspiration Series | Juno Calypso
27 March 2019
"A camera is just a mirror with a memory." - Juno Calypso
Juno Calypso is an award-winning photography, film, and installation artist whose work looks at themes of solitude, desire, and femininity through a dark comedic lens. One of the hottest contemporary photographer's right now, Juno's achievements to date are sublime. In addition to winning the BJP International Photography Award, she has worked with the likes of Burberry, directing their 2018 Christmas campaign which starred Sarabande's patron Naomi Campbell, M.I.A and Matt Smith. She's also worked alongside Takashi Murakami, photographing Billie Elish for Garage Magazine. On March 27th, Juno came to Sarabande to talk to us about the ideas and inspirations behind her work and how she's taken the industry by storm.
While studying photography at London College of Communication, Juno began taking pictures of herself disguised as a character named Joyce, secretly taking shots in her grandma's house. In 2015 Juno took Joyce to a romantic themed hotel in America for a series of work entitled, The Honeymoon. Posing as a travel writer, Juno gained access to multiple rooms which she used to stage her series of solitary self-portraits. For her latest project, What to do With A Million Years, Juno 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.
"You're just curious about your body, what do other people see when they look at me, the mirror is not enough, I need to see angles. I need to see everything, what am I presenting to the world? What are they getting when they look at me, whats my package? ....This is just kind of a sadistic curiosity, you're finding out all your flaws, you end up finding out how ugly am I?"
Image: The Honeymoon, 2015, courtesy the artist and TJ Boulting