The Honeymoon – Juno Calypso

Penn Hills Resort, Pennsylvania. A sense of sweetened anachronism emanates from the images of Juno Calypso’s series The Honeymoon. Joyce, the artist’s alter ego, is immersed in the solitude of the hotel room – a place mainly frequented by couples during their romantic vacations. Surrounded by outmoded furniture and soft coloured wallpapers, the young woman shows obsolete tools for the beauty routine. These objects of questionable effectiveness highlight the unreal and disturbing nature of the pictures. The identity of the character is shown in her reflection at the mirror: focusing uniquely on her appearance, Joyce represents a femininity that is defined by consumerist desires. The colour range – built on the triad of pink/blue/green – emphasizes the unreal sensation permeating the images. A beauty ritual covering her body in clay can mix reality and fiction: like in a scene from a movie, it alienates the woman from her true conditions. Joyce is identified with a ritualized idea of beauty that is at the same time not authentic, and therefore paradoxical.

Sara Ferrari

Juno Calypso, The Honeymoon: The Honeymoon Suite, 2015.

© Juno Calypso 2015