Julia Flippo, 29, is a local artist who has been compiling a collection of her own renditions of various Playboy “bunnies.”
Whether they be rough sketches, stitch work, or detailed drawings and paintings, she has been churning out these bunnies for several years with the goal of bringing them all together for an eventual exhibit.
Each one of her bunnies is meant to depict an alternate perspective from those we are used to in Hugh Hefner’s iconic magazine. Flippo grants the control back to the women
Flippo wants her bunnies to “betray” their viewers and make them “uncomfortable” forcing them to rethink the ways in which they perceive women and their bodies.
She does this by highlighting the particular “desperation or sadness” in the bunnies she designs.
She’ll also exaggerate certain features of the women, often times their hands, adding an element of bodily horror to her work to further defy the perception of women as “objects of desire.”
On once having a pet bunny rabbit, Flippo says, “They’re not proper for the designation that we want them to be in. They’re skittish and they’re afraid, and while they’re so fluffy and cute, they’ll just poop anywhere.”
Meanwhile, the real-life Playboy Bunnies (who were also often referred to as pets) appear trapped into this role as display pieces.
Eventually, the bunnies will all be together as part of a larger exhibition. Until then, Flippo will continue to expand her ever-growing collection with her harsh, yet playful, defiance towards the sexualization and objectifications of women.