JUNE & DECEMBER 2019

The initiative encourages the participation of artists to use their voices in the war against rhino poaching.

In June, fine artist Vanessa Berlein was based at Motswari where she had the sole use of a bush studio and access to game drives for inspiration, totally immersing herself in the natural environment to create some stunning pieces of art. Her focus was on gold leaf paintings, inspired by bush panoramas. Vanessa, who has curated and exhibited in the USA and South Africa and is concerned with human emotional response and relationship to one another and the landscape, donated a piece to Rhino Disharmony depicting rhinos with gold horns – the irony that their horn is worth more than gold on the black market.

Rhino Disharmony ambassador and fashion photographer Sara Wilson was involved with a photographic shoot at Motswari in December for #FashionSaysNo that focused on beauty with rhino symbolism and integrating rhino and fashion intrinsically. Working with Faces Magazine Switzerland, Boss Models Cape Town, Sabine Oberhuber, Carolin Herling and Jessie Crichton the team created magical imagery putting rhino conversation at the forefront of the fashion photography world. The images captured were published in Faces Magazine in 2020 and shared locally and internationally.

Vanessa studied fine art at Natal Technikon, South Africa, majoring in painting. Since 1987, she has worked full time as a fine artist, predominantly working in paint medium, although has experimented in photography, print medium and sculpture.

After viewing an exhibition of Mark Rothko’s in London in 1998, she began to experiment with abstract images, concentrating on the effects of colour, light and various mediums, such as beeswax, industrial varnishes, building materials and metal leaf. She has curated and exhibited in numerous exhibitions in the USA and SA and currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. An artist, she works predominantly in paint medium on board, paper and canvas. Her work is varied, but is concerned with human emotional response and relationship to one another, the landscape and within abstraction.

Vanessa worked with Rhino Disharmony in June 2019, by taking on a Rhino Residency based at Motswari Private Game Reserve. Here she had sole use of the bush studio, access to game drives for inspiration and totally immersed herself in her natural environment to create some stunning pieces of art. Her focus was on gold leaf paintings, inspired by bush panoramas and the outcomes were stunning. She also donated a piece to Rhino Disharmony depicting rhinos with gold horns – the irony that their horn is worth more than gold on the black market. Our first Rhino Residency was a huge success, increasing awareness of the rhino poaching crisis via the medium of art.

Sara is an Ambassador for Rhino Disharmony, on this project, her visit to Motswari involved a photographic shoot for Fashion Says No focusing on two aspects, one of which is beauty with rhino symbolism and the other is integrating rhino and fashion intrinsically.

Working with Faces Magazine Switzerland, Boss Models SA, Sabine Oberhuber, Carolin Herling and Jessie Crichton, this amazing team were on location for 4 days creating magical imagery putting rhino conversation at the forefront of the fashion photography world.

The images captured will be published in Faces Magazine in 2020 and we will share across our social media channels. All of our residencies are focused on increasing awareness, getting word out to the world about the crisis the rhinos face – this particular event will certainly go a long way to doing that.