SISTAAZ OF THE CASTLE
Publication cover
Flavinia wants to be the first African Trans Supermodel
Cleopatra studio portrait
Cleopatra who dreams of being a female African ruler just as Cleopatra
Coco wants to be the flame of the torch of the statue of liberty and the whole universe
Joan Collins in tiger outfit
Sulega dreams of being a rich and notorious drug dealer in L.A.
Cleopatra with Maasai friend
Flavirina in a new to launch Nokia campaign spread all over east-Africa in 2023
Coco in the streets in front of pink car
Queen Cleopatra
Celine Dion on the beach
Gabby on top of her new house
Cleopatra and Jennifer under the bridge
Joan under the bridge
Group leader Netta Marcus surrounded by her angels
Sistaaz under the bridge
Sistaaz of the Castle
2015 - ongoing
This project is the product of an ongoing collaboration between fashion designer Duran Lantink, trans sex worker organization SistaazHood and myself. The Sistaaz are fierce activists, proud to be trans, proud to be sex workers, and even prouder of their stunning sense of style. And they want it to be acknowledged. Most of the girls are homeless, living under a bridge near Cape Town’s (South Africa) Castle of Good Hope.
Together we created a series of photographs and a fashion collection based on the girls’ appearance and their ability to turn whatever they find into the most exuberant outfits. So far this has resulted in a activistic fashion show presented during Amsterdam Fashion Week (a show in Cape Town is planned in 2020) , a photo exhibition in Foam, Red Hook Labs, New York and a publication. The publication features both documentary style pictures as well as staged studio photographs in which the Sistaaz wear the collaborative fashion collection, furthermore it features texts written by the women: stories about their lives, dreams and the struggles and successes they’ve met with: it can be ordered here.
The women from SistaazHood have shared authorship in this project, so that means that they also organise their happenings around this project, have a share in the profits and have their say in how this project is being executed and how it is shown.
Previously shown at:
Red Hook Labs, (New York), 2019
Photo Manifestation Enschede, (Enschede), 2019
Book presentation Castle the Good Hope (Cape Town) 2019
Tassenmuseum Amsterdam (Amsterdam), 2019
Centraal Museum (Utrecht), 2019
Photo Festival for Transgender Community, (Sandesh, India), 2018
CBK Zuid-Oost (Amsterdam), 2016
Amsterdam Fashion Week (Amsterdam), 2016
Foam (Amsterdam), 2016
This project is the product of an ongoing collaboration between fashion designer Duran Lantink, trans sex worker organization SistaazHood and myself. The Sistaaz are fierce activists, proud to be trans, proud to be sex workers, and even prouder of their stunning sense of style. And they want it to be acknowledged. Most of the girls are homeless, living under a bridge near Cape Town’s (South Africa) Castle of Good Hope.
Together we created a series of photographs and a fashion collection based on the girls’ appearance and their ability to turn whatever they find into the most exuberant outfits. So far this has resulted in a activistic fashion show presented during Amsterdam Fashion Week (a show in Cape Town is planned in 2020) , a photo exhibition in Foam, Red Hook Labs, New York and a publication. The publication features both documentary style pictures as well as staged studio photographs in which the Sistaaz wear the collaborative fashion collection, furthermore it features texts written by the women: stories about their lives, dreams and the struggles and successes they’ve met with: it can be ordered here.
The women from SistaazHood have shared authorship in this project, so that means that they also organise their happenings around this project, have a share in the profits and have their say in how this project is being executed and how it is shown.
Previously shown at:
Red Hook Labs, (New York), 2019
Photo Manifestation Enschede, (Enschede), 2019
Book presentation Castle the Good Hope (Cape Town) 2019
Tassenmuseum Amsterdam (Amsterdam), 2019
Centraal Museum (Utrecht), 2019
Photo Festival for Transgender Community, (Sandesh, India), 2018
CBK Zuid-Oost (Amsterdam), 2016
Amsterdam Fashion Week (Amsterdam), 2016
Foam (Amsterdam), 2016
Installation pics
Sistaaz of the Castle - Centraal Museum (Utrecht)
Sistaaz of the Castle - Dutch Design Awards, Design Week Eindhoven (Eindhoven)
Sistaaz of the Castle - Amsterdam Fashion Week (Amsterdam)