June Calypso is a London-based photographer with a knack for self-portraiture and exploring the constraints of feminine beauty. You might know her better as her alter ego, Joyce, a character she takes on in her series "Joyce I & II." Dressed in stereotypically womanly costumes -- while adopting the roles of receptionist, housewife and cake topper -- Joyce shows the dark side of female perfection.
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Calypso's project is both beautifully bizarre and outright terrifying, as the various "Joyce" personalities stare blankly into the camera, breaking down our perceptions of beauty standards without so much as a blink. Joyce mans a front desk, hocks age-defying products and wears an electronic mask, all while demanding the full attention of the viewer. Joyce appears mere moments away from rejecting each role, a combination of defiance, exhaustion, indifference and disappointment piercing through her gaze.
Think Cindy Sherman with a bit more of Barbara Kruger's direct, in-your-face sentiment (sans the text of course).
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"I draw upon personal experience to perform critical studies into modern rituals of beauty and seduction," Calypso writes on her website. "We find Joyce alone, consumed by artifice –- trapped inside pastel-colored encounters with beauty masks, cream cakes and polyester negligee -- her glazed appearance acting as a mirror to the exhaustion felt whilst bearing the dead weight of constructed femininity."
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Ill-informed beauty standards have never felt so heavy, no? For images, check out Calypso's website here.
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h/t Design Taxi
Calypso's project is both beautifully bizarre and outright terrifying, as the various "Joyce" personalities stare blankly into the camera, breaking down our perceptions of beauty standards without so much as a blink. Joyce mans a front desk, hocks age-defying products and wears an electronic mask, all while demanding the full attention of the viewer. Joyce appears mere moments away from rejecting each role, a combination of defiance, exhaustion, indifference and disappointment piercing through her gaze.
Think Cindy Sherman with a bit more of Barbara Kruger's direct, in-your-face sentiment (sans the text of course).
"I draw upon personal experience to perform critical studies into modern rituals of beauty and seduction," Calypso writes on her website. "We find Joyce alone, consumed by artifice –- trapped inside pastel-colored encounters with beauty masks, cream cakes and polyester negligee -- her glazed appearance acting as a mirror to the exhaustion felt whilst bearing the dead weight of constructed femininity."
Ill-informed beauty standards have never felt so heavy, no? For images, check out Calypso's website here.
h/t Design Taxi