Photographer Jan Hoek and fashion designer Duran Lantink present Sistaaz of the Castle, a project about the colourful looks of transgender sex workers that roam the streets of Cape Town, South Africa.
Together they created a series of photographs and a fashion collection around their fashionable appearances, and their ability to make the most exuberant creations of everything they find.
From 13 January till 20 January the project was on display at Foam.
The local sex workers’ organisation, S.W.E.A.T., gave Jan Hoek and Duran Lantink the opportunity to meet and collaborate with their transgender support group Sistaazhood. For this project, Hoek and Lantink zoom in on six girls from the community: Coco (25), Cleopatra (23) Sulaiga (30), Gabby (29) Flavinia (33) and Joan Collins (57).
Most of the girls are homeless, living under a bridge beside the castle of Cape Town. Jan Hoek photographed their lives and their outfits. The photos also serve as a lookbook for the collection of Duran Lantink. The designer was inspired by the creative ability of the girls to produce beautiful creations from found pieces of garments. He recognised a similarity to his own process, using different recycling methods and collage techniques.
The artists were also interested in how the girls would want to look like if they had unlimited possibilities. One of the girls would like to work in a luxurious Victorian brothel. The 57-year-old Joan Collins dreams of a wedding dress and a third wants to become Miss Africa. All these fantasies are translated into a dream-couture capsule collection by Lantink, which is also photographed by Hoek.
Duran Lantink (1987) is the wild child of fashion in the Netherlands. In 2013 he graduated at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and is now studying the Master Fashion Matter at the Sandberg Institute. His collections, styling and exhibitions often contain honest messages and are a dizzying remix of anything that inspires him. Similar to the South-African girls of Sistaaz of the Castle, Duran uses different recycle methods. His style is raw and colourful and dark at the same time. With his towering 3D printed shoes, he made national and international acclaim. The shoes are exhibited a.o. at the Louvre in Paris and the MET in New York. As a stylist and designer, Duran has worked for several magazines, such as Vogue, Glamcult and D&A Mexico.
http://duranlantink.com/
Jan Hoek (1984) photographs amateur models, mentally ill homeless people in Africa who look like kings, a girl with no arms and legs that constantly wants to be photographed, heroin addicts with a modelling dream, or people he found through an advertisement on Marktplaats. Jan Hoek graduated in 2012 at Image and Language at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. His work is exhibited in a.o. Foam in Amsterdam, FOMU in Antwerp and in St. Petersburg, Shenzhen and Lagos. Jan Hoek is represented by Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam.
http://janhoek.net/
photography: Peter Stigter
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