Fluster Magazine

“Kalliope Amorphous is an artist whose primary body of work has evolved into an exploration of the conceptual self-portrait photograph as a catalyst for exploring ideas of identity, gender, archetype and myth. Her work ranges from interpretations of pre-existing iconography to compositions meant purely to provoke and challenge perceptions and first impressions…”

Who is Kalliope? Tell us a bit about your background.

I was born in Rhode Island (USA)  and lived most of my teens and early 20‘s in New York City. Like Dorothy, I eventually moved back to my hometown, because I realized I need to be in a quieter, idyllic place in order to stay creatively focused.

I am a hyper-creative artist and I am usually engaged in a handful of projects at a time. This runs the gamut from mixed media art and perfumery to poetry and prose. Most of my family on both sides were artists and musicians, so it’s in my blood, I guess. Conceptual photography has become my primary focus over the past three years.

What is photography for you?

It’s a way to make thoughts and visions tangible. I also see it as visual poetry.

Which aspects of your pictures make them stand out as yours, what is your signature?

I think there is a certain mood of nostalgic melancholy that always shows up in my images. I don’t plan it that way, but when I look at the work objectively, I see that theme of wistfulness over and over again. Because of this, I would have to say that this mood is a signature of my work at this point

How do you set up your work?

Chaos! I am very unplanned and chaotic during a shoot. I usually have a general idea of what I am going to be doing, but I prefer to work spontaneously once I have the base of a shoot set up. Most of my conceptual ideas tend to pop up while I am shooting, so there’s always a great deal of rummaging and chaos going on while I am trying to manifest them.

Tell us a story about one of your pictures? What is your favourite shot and why?

“Witnesses” [above] is my favorite recent photo. It is from one of the series that I am currently working on called “Simulacra” In this series, I am using giant mirrors to create the illusion of twins This shot is my favorite from the series, because it really encapsulates what I was trying to do in these images, which is to create portraits using a mirror that do not look like simply mirror reflections.

In this photo, the two women are obviously doubles, but each is showing a different expression and gesture. What I am trying to do in this series is a bit difficult to execute properly, especially being that they are self-portraits and I cannot see what is going on in the mirror images while I am shooting. “Witnesses” encapsulates the mood that I have been trying to capture, because there are two distinct gestures and the expression in the eyes of each of the women is different. They are both showing a similar, yet slightly different emotion. I also really like the movement of the hair in this shot.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to face to get a great picture?

Sitting in several feet of snow during a blizzard wearing Spring clothing was pretty challenging a few months ago. I was inspired by the old fairytale “Frozen Charlotte” and as I started to lose sensation in my hands, I wondered if life was actually going to imitate art!

You define your work as “conceptual self portraiture”, can you tell us more about it? Why did you choose to shoot self portraits? When did you start?

I first started experimenting with self-portrait photography about four years ago. I used to model, so I have a comfortability with being in front of the camera. I then started experimenting with being on the shooting side of the camera, really enjoyed it and eventually started getting all of these ideas for conceptual portraits. Since I was the only one around at 2am or some odd hour when these ideas would come, I started using myself as the model.

When I used to model for other photographers, I learned that my face has this chameleon quality to it, so when I started doing self-portraits I started exploring and experimenting with that more. I rarely see these images as photos of “me”.

I hate being told what to do and I like to work alone, so moving into something entirely self-contained where I am the stylist, model and photographer was a natural progression.

What`s the message of your photos, what do you want to communicate or accomplish through your work?

I often play with ideas of identity, gender and archetype in my work. Ideally, I would like the work to communicate the concept of ego-based identity as something mutable. At the very least, I hope to create art that is read by the eye as visual poetry.

What`s the question you wish I had asked? …and what is the answer?

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I am studying makeup, lighting, etc. from the 1930s and 40s for a series inspired by images of early hollywood icons.

(Images © Kalliope Amorphous – More of her work here)