Maippi Ketola: Striptease

Ladies and gentlemen!

A great natural oddity has arrived in town! The Authentic Bearded Lady! Come and witness with your own eyes the almost full-body coat of hair of the Bearded Lady, dressed in clothes in which only a select few have ever been allowed to see her!

Striptease is a series of sideshow posters that I have painted using myself as the model, wearing clothes that I own but that have been too revealing for me to wear in public as they are. Most of the paintings have been painted on the widest canvases available on the market, and they occupy much of the exhibition space at floor level. Sideshow posters have traditionally been enormous, brightly coloured, and, as far as I know, always framed in vivid red—elements that I have reproduced in my own paintings.

Striptease continues my project I Want To See What I Look Like, which began with a desire to see myself as I really am instead of seeing myself through the lens of constant, daily shaving. I began painting the posters as early as 2023, before finally growing out my body hair in the autumn of 2024 while staying as a resident at Saari Residence, in the peace and quiet of Mynämäki. Painting these enormous self-portraits has been a kind of therapy for me. Through the process, I first imagined what I might look like with a beard, gradually becoming accustomed to the idea of having one, then documented what my beard actually looks like, and now, with this exhibition, I have expanded my gaze to other parts of my body.

I hope that my project reaches women who conceal their body hair and makes them smile. In my paintings, I strive to be honest about my hair.

Free entrance