Jo Ann Chaus's Unspoken Photobook Deconstructs Imposed Gender Roles

Photographer Jo Ann Chaus has been taking self-portraits since 2013, and her upcoming photobook 'Unspoken' (Kehrer Verlag, July 2026) compiles these images along with still lifes, landscapes, and domestic interiors. The work draws on the aesthetics of New Color Photography and 1950s fashion to critique the roles of lover, muse, mother, and housewife. Chaus literally wears these roles as costumes, examining them from an external perspective. Gallerist Debra Klomp Ching describes the images as 'both intimate and laid bare for all.' Photographer and writer Allen Frame notes that Chaus explores 'a kaleidoscopic repertoire of characters' addressing 'the complexity of balancing the regrets of the past with the ability to realize oneself creatively in the present.' The photographs feature recurring motifs: a figure with a magnifying glass for a face, a bare back in a dark attic, a green velvet sofa with the imprint of an absent body. Chaus states, 'The act of photographing was decisive in freeing me from these gender boundaries and allowing me to become free, without constraints, to express myself without obstacles.' The book is presented as a work about what has been left unsaid for too long and what happens when it is finally spoken.