Susanne Junker

About

I am a multi-media artist based in Paris. In my practice, my own face and body often become a tool to confront beauty standards, gender role stereotypes and ageism through self-appropriation and a feminist perspective.

Statement

It all started with the Miss Vogue Germany modelling contest in 1989, where I came in third place at the age of 16. It immediately catapulted me to Paris and into the international fashion world, and I worked as a model for 12 years. The 1990s were the era of glamorous supermodels selling their perfect physical appearance. Beauty standards were mostly set by male photographers, the shooting of female bodies and the male gaze remained dominant in society. After working in the industry for several years, those rigid norms became unbearable to me. By 1995 they compelled me to shift from object to author. I captured my unadorned self, using an analogue camera with roll film, adopting different personas, expressing authenticity, anger, boredom, and wittiness, through my self-created images. This conscious decision opened a long path to my self-appropriation. Since then I use the female body as a medium for personal and political messages. In addition, my photographs, installations and actions take up the dynamics of social media, in which self-presentation is often exaggerated to the point of grotesqueness. This interplay between voyeurism, self-determination and media staging becomes visible in my work through alienated body images, humorous exaggerations and subversive text elements that reveal and critically question the absurdity of idealised beauty standards.

Exhibitions

Recognition

Commissions

portrait photography