Calendar Girls
This selection of works will be on view the first time at UNSEEN AMSTERDAM September 16-19, 2021 at our gallery booth.
Julia Gunther is a German artist, based in Amsterdam, NL, who specialises in collaborative documentary projects. Her work centres around a critical approach to prevailing narratives and established ideas, focusing on representational deficits within underrepresented communities.
The series Calendar Girls is a photographic collaboration chronicling the Miss Calendar Girl Beauty Pageant, an annual competition in Cape Town, South Africa, where trans women compete for the honour of being crowned Miss Calendar Girl.
The pageant is a platform for contestants to portray their true selves. Similar to the famous ‘balls’ featured in the landmark documentary film, Paris is Burning, events like these provide a safe environment, a support network, and above all, a sense of community for trans individuals in South Africa.
Inspired by the iconic film Priscilla - Queen of the Desert, Gunther teamed up with several pageant participants to co-create a series of portraits on a salt pan outside of Cape Town. All the outfits were designed and made by the contestants themselves and would be worn for the pageant several days later.