SO WHAT!

Susanne Junker was a successful model in the 1990s. Her critical perspective on the fashion industry's obsession with beauty and the dominance of the male gaze ultimately led her to explore, as an artist, the various forms of representation of femininity and the ways in which they are staged in the media. This monograph, which is being published in conjunction with the exhibition SO WHAT!, highlights 30 years of her artistic work. From her beginnings in the early 1990s to the present day, the photographic self-portrait has always been at the centre of her work, providing a means of reflecting on beauty, gender roles and social hierarchies. Junker exposes stereotypes, breaks taboos and dismantles the normative concepts of femininity that have been and continued to be shaped by advertising, film, and pop culture.

Text in English and German.

German-born Susanne Junker has practiced self-observation since teenage years. Beyond the photo set, the then young artist began to turn the camera on herself again and again: the self-portrait was her weapon to break down the preconceived notions of her then-job as a model in the 1990s, and her own struggle with what she describes as "24/7 perfectionism". Her work explores the concept of identity in a visually driven world: a keen observer of pop culture and social media, she has long questioned the representation of women in the media. In her practice, her own face and body often become a tool to confront beauty standards, gender role stereotypes and ageism through self-appropriation and a feminist perspective.

From 2008 to 2013, Susanne Junker founded and directed stage候台BACK, an artist-run space for experimental projects in Shanghai, China. From 2018 - 2022, Susanne taught as a guest lecturer a photography course titled: "Researching Identity" at the China Academy of Art (CAA) in Shanghai and Hangzhou, China. Susanne Junker lives and works in Paris, France.