Venus: The Bearded Beauty

Daughter of two high school teachers and the eldest of six siblings, Venus, the Sideshow's Bearded Beauty was originally christened as Eden Grace Harper as named after Mount Eden in New Zealand where she was born.

As a young child and well into her teens, she was always academically gifted with an aptitude for Chemistry. To equal her natural brilliance was her beauty, which instead of a blessing Eden felt was a curse. Her beauty was so flawless, even from an early age, that people were intimidated by her  or perhaps too shy to speak to her.

"I was always very lonely as a child and again as a teen. It was horrible. People would just stare at me their mouth opening and shutting like a fish out of water. They would always stare but never speak or utter a word to me"

When Eden turned sixteen, fed up with the curse of loneliness her beauty caused her, she dosed her face in a chemical she had designed to treat dogs with alopecia hoping to cover her appearance and creating the beard that now grows on her face today.

"It's a strange thing, people were still staring at me but in a different way. They now stare at me with child like curiosity, which is great because with curiosity comes questions followed by conversation and then friendship. Having a beard was the best thing I could have done for myself"

Being so academically gifted, you'd expect that Eden would have discovered a cure for her famous whiskers long ago, and it may surprise you to learn that she has.

"I knew how to get rid of my beard the moment I grew it, but I don't want to. It's a part of me and that's the way that I like it" 

You can see Eden aka. Venus: The Bearded Beauty and more at the Sideshow exhibition @ For Walls Gallery opening Aug 3rd 2011. Hosted by beinArt Surrealist Collective