08/25/2024

Madness in Callon’s ‘Houses of Fiction’

Photo artist Julia Callon’s Houses of Fiction  is fascinating.  The series is a hybrid of  photography and small-scale models. Drawing on Victorian literature, the works reflect a woman’s ‘place’ in society, expressed through domestic spaces. Each story is a diptych. The first image represents the passive, obedient woman, the other conveys madness. This recent fine arts grad is clearly an emerging talent. (Above/Below: Wuthering Heights No. 1 and 2)

“Whether domestic spaces are depicted as places of confinement or refuge, the ‘private sphere’ is an evident preoccupation for many nineteenth-century female writers and a critical concern of the Houses of Fiction.”  -Notes from the show at IMA Gallery, Toronto, today through Sept. 29.

Above/Below: Yellow Wallpaper No. 1 and No. 2

Below: The Lifted Veil No. 1 and No. 2

Julia Callon’s biography, here.

Her website, here.

More about her previous work, here.


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6 thoughts on “Madness in Callon’s ‘Houses of Fiction’

  1. Again, amazing where a creative mind can take you. Also hard for me to think of destroying such work! We’ve seen this a few times recently – artists creating and destroying. Very powerful, but still painful. I see Mr. Rochester in the last room on fire!

  2. This is a fine young mind and talent. Congratulations for all the varied artistic works you expose to the world. (I still can’t get over the tutu’s, and have revisited several times, and Sam? with the suits, ahh!)

    1. Thank you so much. You have such an eye and feeling for art and I often learn from your comments! And yes, Sam with the suits, one of my favorites, too.

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