Body art's her specialty

MICHELLE COOKE

THE HUMAN body is Yolanda Bartram's canvas of choice.

The Mt Wellington body artist has a penchant for transforming a naked body into something far more elaborate – and has proven her talents at the 2010 World Body Painting Festival.

Mrs Bartram and Brazilian air-brush artist Alex Hansen won the top award for the competition's special effects category with their stunning Armageddon Day piece.

At the end of seven long hours, the duo's model resembled a World War Two war plane, bearing a mixture of intricate designs representing different religions of the world – as well as war-related paraphernalia, such as prosthetic rockets and bullets.

The supreme award was something the mother-of-two has been working towards for 13 years. Mrs Bartram was first enticed into the world of body art when she was living in the Netherlands, aged 18.

Her mother Nicole Heydenrijk made the transition from theatre makeup to body painting and used Mrs Bartram as her model.

The pair moved to New Zealand 11 years ago and started Body FX, now one of Australasia's leading make-up and special effects companies.

Mrs Bartram is internationally recognised and she is often flown around the world to work on different projects.

Last year, Richard Branson flew her to Sydney to paint the Australian flag on a group of women who were part of the celebrations for the Virgin Australia launch.

Next month, she is heading to Korea to judge its national body art competition and is returning to Australia for another project in September.

"I do a lot of travelling and I do a lot of missing my kids," she says. "It's a full-on life at the moment but you either take it or leave it."

Mrs Bartram says the body painting industry has exploded since she first became involved in it.

"It's amazing what they do and you wonder what else is possible," she says.

"I guess the challenge is to try to find new things."

Special effects has been her specialty for a while, earning her first prize for special effects makeup at the festival last year, and second prize in special effects overall in 2008.

But Mrs Bartram plans to concentrate on body painting in the hope of winning the supreme award in brush/sponge at next year's competition.

BodyFX also runs courses. Visit www.bodyfx.co.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News