Boyarde Messenger

Artist photographer Boyarde Messenger created, for the first time, a live installation around the female nude for the Art of Giving exhibition, in the Saatchi Gallery, October 7-9, 2010. Boyarde and the Art of Giving joined forces to create a spectacular of the female form. A selection of live models, wearing Charlotte Olympia shoes, hand painted by Boyarde Messenger, forging a stunning fusion of art and fashion and was presented at the opening night of the exhibition. Each model was a unique work of ‘performance’ Art.

Boyarde studied an Art Foundation at the Wimbledon School of Art and followed on to graduate with BA (Hons) in photography at The Bournemouth Arts Institute. She began her career as a commercial photographer, eventually developing and combining her painting and photographic skills to create these individual artworks.  Boyarde spends half her time in Belize, Central America, where the bursting sunshine and free-spiritedness of the people creates her palate of inspiration.

Back in London, high heels adorned, transcending the boundaries of art and fashion, this installation was inevitable, for fashion is in her blood. Her mother, Nike Williams, acclaimed art director of 60’s flagship magazine Honey brought back curves to women. She also styled the original Pirelli calendars; her stepmother,Victoria Nixon, a former international model, was discovered by Helmut Newton. Following in their footsteps, Messenger continued with her fascination of the female form, its power, and Scopophilia (:the pleasure of looking). Boyarde is best known for her Pop Art Bottoms, both hand-painted and photographed by Boyarde, which she describes as “highlighting… [her] playful personality, injecting it with humour and mischievousness, whilst liberating the object of desire, admiring its form, yet still confirming the vital balance between power and vulnerability.” Messenger exhibits internationally, in London, Paris, New York and Miami..

 ‘Finding the unusual… is the hallmark of gifted photographers and [her]… series of photographs from Belize reveal the technical gifts and social documentarian lurking in Messenger’s closet’. ’The Independent

Short-listed for the final judging day, 2009 Terry O’Neill Award, “the world’s leading photographic competition”
The youngest winner of The Observer photographic competition, 2005