Artists Lois Cohen & Indiana Roma Voss

 

Angelino Heights, USA I 2017

 

“Calamity Barbie” is part of “Metamorphosis”, a project in which visual artists Lois Cohen and Indiana Roma Voss attempt to redefine female icons and figures throughout history that has influenced today’s image culture - from religion to pop culture, from art history to cartoons. Essentially by recasting the women embodying these rollmodels and reconstructing certain elements within the classic imagery, the meaning of the image itself changes. Breaking free from the somewhat stereotypical and onedimensional portrayals, the series seeks to create new archetypes of strong women in a photography that aims to be as inclusive as possible.

 

What started as an adult doll for men, who was inspired by a high-end call girl named Lilli - a comic-strip character in the Hamburg newspaper Bild-Zeitung - later became the most popular toy for little girls in western society, as well as the most problematic rolemodel in terms of unrealistic beauty standards and what a woman should be: Barbie.

Intertwined with elements of a rather oppostie female Icon Calamity Jane (who was a well-known American frontierswoman, sharpshooter, and raconteur) we transformed her into a full figured bad ass who is not to be messed with.