Sonja Ruppersberg's
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

With:
Sonja Ruppersberg / Patricia Lynch /
Henri-Jacques Blom / Paul André Blom

Starring:
Arthur / Johan / Stef'n / Gino /
Karla / Ashton / Paul


[click the images for larger renditions]

THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
Man's narrow perception of beauty takes many forms. In this instance, Sonja Ruppersberg's vision of this phenomenon is not an ordinary cliché. Her longtime ambition has been to capture and depict a range of extraordinary characters (be they earthly, historical, supernatural, famous, divine etc.) in a variety of familiar scenarios.
A family portrait, a rock star, a holy figure…

The initial idea morphed into the Desert Storm shoot for Stage Magazine featuring Christina Storm (pictures of which will also be displayed at this exhibition). Six months after the Desert Storm location trip to the Karoo, Sonja returned to the original idea of taking alternative / fringe characters and displaying their unique features to the world in a studio shoot.

Having known and seen many of the Beautiful People-series faces over the years, Sonja always appreciated the individuality, striking features and characters to which they belong and wanted to immortalize them while experimenting with make-up and styling techniques. The unique faces have a beauty all their own for which the conventional will not have a keen eye.
With Sonja Ruppersberg, Patricia Lynch-Blom, Paul Blom and Henk Blom, the project was kick started - conceptualizing compositions without any boundaries, rules or regulations.

At 6am one freezing morning of 7 June 2002, the collaborators descended on a chilly photographic warehouse studio against Table Mountain.
With 8 different set-ups to complete in a single day (including costume and make-up changes for a range of models), the team worked at a breakneck pace not only to get the job done, but also to get it done properly.

Coincidentally the king of South African Gothic music, Ashton Nyte (from The Awakening) was playing the city that weekend and agreed to take time out to feature in some of the shots.

Framing took on a more creative approach as opposed to sending it off to the conventional framing company, allowing the pictures to hover within its border. Paul and Sonja put their efforts into creating unique frames for each picture, some relating directly to the subject matter.

The Beautiful People photo exhibition coincides with Cape Town's annual Month Of Photography and will be one of the first exhibitions in the new IRONIC Gallery and Jewelry Design Studio.
A video documentary of the production will be screened on the opening night.

[Check out the Firestarters segment at www.flamedrop.com for picture previews and related info]

View a selection of these pictures from 15 March 2003 at IRONIC, 17 Glynnville Terrace, Gardens, Cape Town, (enter via Hope Street).

Friday 14 March 2003 will see the invitation-only opening night.

>PRODUCTION TEAM<

Sonja Ruppersberg
Concepts, Make-Up, Styling, Production
[Sonja has acted as make-up artist for the likes of super model Christina Storm, international musician Art Garfunkel, live shows, music videos and Stage Magazine cover shoots / initiated creative shoots like Desert Storm & Beautiful People]

Patricia Lynch-Blom
Concepts, Photography
[Patricia has been a graphic designer for over a decade and has been a part of photographic team Full Frame]

Henri-Jacques Blom
Photography, Lighting
[Henri runs Zeplins.com and has been a photographer for almost 2 decades]

Paul André Blom
Concepts, Production
[Paul runs Flamedrop.com and Flamedrop Productions / has been involved with music, video, photography and writing for over a decade]

Zurane Agenbach
Assistant Stylist
[Zurane is an award winning dancer-choreographer with extensive styling and dressing experience]


>TALENT<

Arthur
Ashton
Gino
Johan
Karla
Paul
Stef'n


>THE PICTURES<

THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
EDEN
NOSNAM NYLIRAM
EVERAFTER
SOUTH AFRICAN GOTHIC
FAMILY PORTRAIT
THE QUEEN AND HER PRINCESSES

DESERT STORM
(additional exhibit)
SADDLED-UP
FOXY BRONZE
BASSWITCH
[Photographer: Francois Oberholster / Series Conceiver & Make-Up: Sonja Ruppersberg / Model: Christina Storm / Stylist: Terence Norman]