Kalliope Amorphous On Flickr

Conceptual photographer Kalliope Amorphous images from Flickr

Updated 2/2011)

An Interview With Kalliope Amorphous

VGC: Kalliope, you have said that you do not consider your photographs to be self portraits. Can you elaborate?

Kalliope Amorphous: Well, there can be this assumption that if you are pointing the camera at yourself, then you must be a narcissist or otherwise self-obsessed. For me, the self portraiture is the opposite of this, because I am going beyond the idea of myself as “Kalliope”. I have to thoroughly drop the idea of myself, or at least go deeper into my subconscious, in order to get into the essence of what I am trying to communicate. When I look at these images, I do not see myself.

In various occult systems, there is a term called “aspecting”. Aspecting refers to the empathic invocation of aspects of the self other than the ego. You utilize the entire range of the psyche-not just the limited ego. That is what I try to do in my art. I want to invoke aspects as empathically as possible.

VGC: So, where does your own identity fit in within the context of these concepts? Are there glimpses of the artist in these images?

Kalliope Amorphous: Of course, every image I make is reflective of my affinities to some extent. So, if there are glimpses, they are into my subconscious mind or my emotional/mental landscape. That place is where all of the images are invented anyhow. When I look objectively at this work, I see a lot of themes that relate to alienation and isolation. Since this is something that I have struggled with my whole life, it seems to be unavoidable that it is showing in my work.

VGC: Are there any life experiences in particular that you would like to share?

Kalliope Amorphous: Well, it's not so much about life experiences. It's the life. I have also willfully chosen to live outside of much of society, because I find the culture to be almost intolerable. I do not subscribe to the rules, customs and ideologies that seek to dictate the conditions of my life. I absolutely refuse to, and so, the alienation is self-imposed as much as it is imposed from external ignorance. I live my life this way partly in reverence to all of those who could not, those who cannot, and those who have been and continue to be strung on the gallows because of it. I refuse to participate in bullshit roles or to blind myself for the sake of fitting into nonsense.

VGC: Resurrecting Ophelia seems to draw on these concepts of alienation. Was it for this reason that you chose to deal with this particular story?

Kalliope Amorphous: Ophelia was an archetype that I had wanted to explore for a long time. Except, I wanted to give her some of her power back in these images; to make her more of a confrontational ghost rather than simply a victimized woman. I have always been fascinated by the poetic imagery inherent in the archetype of the drowning woman. The juxtaposition of horror and beauty is something I am very attracted to. I also wanted to play with the idea of water as the dichotomy of womb and tomb. I have all of these poetic ideas about my images, but ultimately the viewer may just see a pretty picture.



VGC: How did you create the images for this series? They look as if they actually were taken underwater, but I read on your website that you have used in camera techniques?

Kalliope Amorphous: The photos from that series were made using different surfaces. Glass, veils, acrylic, different fabrics, doors, screens. I experimented with a lot of different surfaces to try and get a more dreamy effect than if they were actually shot underwater.

VGC: Most of your work is improvisational, and you have mentioned that you work with “available” equipment. Can you tell us more about this? You are not using studio lighting in any of your work?

Kalliope Amorphous: No, I don’t use studio lights or other pro equipment. The extent of my professional equipment is an inexpensive tripod, a timer and my camera. I use everything from floor lamps and shop lights to natural light and flashlights. I do not consider myself a photographer at all. I just tear everything apart, pull a lot of muscles and make a big mess of things in order to get the result that I want.

VGC: I saw that in your statement. You say that you do not consider yourself a photographer, but an artist with a camera. Can you elaborate on this?

Kalliope Amorphous: The camera is the means to create the art, so I am self-taught in photography. I have learned how to use these tools to create the imagery that I have in my head, but I do not consider myself a photographer by any means. This is why I prefer to say that I am an artist using a camera, because I really know very little about photography, and what I do know has occurred through trial and error.


VGC: Prior to using the camera as a way to create art, were you working in a different medium?

Kalliope Amorphous: I have always been working in one artistic medium or another, but never in such a dedicated way as I do with the photography, which is why I suppose this inevitably became my career. Prior to using the camera, I worked in mixed media art, painting, collage, and the written word. I am a writer first, and it is exciting to me that I am able to create poetic imagery that is able to convey as much of a story as a poem might.

VGC: Do you have any formal art training?

Kalliope Amorphous: I get asked this all of the time, and I always find it funny that people immediately assume that I went to art school. I have a high school education. I am a true autodidact. I have taught myself everything that I know in all areas. I do come from a highly artistic family, so I suppose that some of this is in my genes. All members of both sides of my family were either artists or musicians. I was a very creative child, a real oddball, and I was a child prodigy in language and writing. You don’t need to attend art school to be an artist. I don’t subscribe to any of that bullshit. It’s in your blood or its not.


VGC: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Kalliope Amorphous: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to discuss my work!

The Many Faces Of Kalliope Amorphous

Kalliope Amorphous is an artist best known for her haunting conceptual self portrait photographs. Self-taught in photography, Amorphous explores the psychological landscape of identity and persona by using her body as a blank canvas for projecting her conceptual ideas.

A self-taught photographer/artist, Kalliope works without professional studio equipment or lighting, seeming to follow the principle of "availabilism". Makeup, costuming, photography, and post processing are all created by the artist.

Kalliope remarks on her work:

"(Self portraits) came about as a natural extension of my artistic desire to work with photography, coupled with my reclusive personality. This work is entirely self-contained. As photographer, subject, costumer, makeup artist, and post-processor, I have complete control over the resulting imagery, and am also able to work alone at three in the morning if the spirit moves me."



Kalliope works in series. Recent series include: Resurrecting Ophelia, a compilation of "underwater" photographs which explore the archetype of Shakespeare's tragic drowned heroine, Ophelia, Valkyrie: a visual interpretation of the dark bird goddess, or "crow woman", and Hypnagogia, a set of surreal and disturbing images, which bring to mind nightmares from the mind of a Lovecraftian dreamer.

Kalliope has exhibited throughout the United States and Europe.

An interview with the artist will be posted to this page soon.

For more information on Amorphous' work, visit her website at KalliopeAmorphous.com