Rockabilly-Online

Swedish Burlesque Calendar 2011 is a collaborative project that explores the Swedish Burlesque scene through the characters, personalities and venues that define it.

Fräulein Frauke

Creative duo, artist John Paul Bichard and performer Fräulein Frauke invited twelve of Sweden’s top Burlesque stars to participate in the creation of a series of photographic artworks as part of Bichard’s ongoing ‘Identity series’. The resultant images form the basis of the Swedish Burlesque Calendar 2011 that allow the artworks to be distributed in an accessible transient medium. The works capture a moment in time when the Swedish Burlesque world has grown to become a popular artform, showing off the creativity in the scene and the people behind it.

The locations for the shoots were chosen to bring out the personal expression of the performers in Stockholm’s top lavish venues. In bringing together these elements, some surprising relationships have emerged where nineteenth and early twentieth aesthetics and cultural tradition is juxtaposed with contemporary gender and social politics: Chrystelle and Elena posing in the Red Room, the fin de siecle gentleman’s retreat where Strindberg wrote his novel; Virginia Valentine posing as a vampire in the historical Stockholm landmark Södra Teatern and Pippi Nordenstam posing defiantly in military fetish inspired costume in the Royal Opera House.

Ruby Lu Scious

The duo bring to the project not only experience from in front and behind the lens but also an understanding of what constitutes identity, character and a sense of the ‘fantastic’. In setting out to capture the energy and vitality of a scene that is both extravagant and unconventional, they have created a rich impression of a contemporary expressive and glamorous artform.

Artists:

John Paul Bichard
is an English artist/photographer based in Stockholm who investigates the way people construct identity and the means in which these identities and roles are contextualised in social constructs. In practice this means exploring roles and characters through photography, video, performance and digital/real world games. He shows internationally and has works in several major collections.
www.johnpaulbichard.com

Fräulein Frauke

Fräulein Frauke
is a Swedish artist/performer who is one of Sweden’s leading burlesque personalities. As a curator she gives space to both new and established performers to explore their creativity in her burlesque and cabaret club. As a performer herself she explores the relationship between female sexuality and social empowerment combining her conceptual vision with glamour and lavish costumes.
www.frauleinfrauke.com

Many thanks to the performers and venues who provided the shoot locations:

Performers: Virginia Valentine, Duches Dubois, Lola van Dyke, Swedish Siren, Ruby Luscious, Fräulein Frauke, Amazing Knicker Kittens, Lily DeLuxe, Pippi Nordenstam, Tifa Deleone, Velma Voluptuous, Mistress Chrystelle, Elena-Maria and Ivoncita.

Locations: Berns Salonger, Cafe Opera, Le Rouge/Le Bar Rouge, Stadshuse, Södra Teatern, Wallmans Salongen

You can order the calendar on this website:

http://frauleinfrauke.com/sbc/