Berlin-based makeup artist Reem Jarhum and photographer Kenneth Dumevi presents Crystallized, a striking beauty editorial composed of magnetic monochromatic portraits. The series focuses on texture, precision, and the intensity of gaze. Sculptural crystal embellishments are paired with poised forms—balancing bold detail and graphic minimalism.
Jarhum transforms the face into a canvas. The black-and-white series opens with clean, minimal compositions—crystallised lashes and sleek braids glinting against bare skin.
A profile softens the symmetry. The crystals remain subtle, their shimmer just catching the light.
The embellishment intensifies. Crystals trace graphic liner across the lid, drawing the gaze upward. Here, the model appears in a textured black sleeveless top by fashion designer Maximilian Franz-Josef Melzel, marking a shift from the earlier bare-shouldered compositions. This garment, with its rippled structure, echoes the narrative of transformation at the core of the story.
As the sequence unfolds, the adornment grows bolder, more unruly. Larger crystals trace graphic liner, stretching beyond the brow. Spidery lines twist into abstract forms, seemingly invading the canvas of the model’s face.
Now unbound, the hair flies. At this stage, the images carry more movement and energy. The composition becomes less controlled—more performative, more expressive. The look is no longer delicate. It’s confrontational.
Reaching the final stage of her crystallisation, the model appears in a state of bliss—braids sweeping across her features in fluid motion. Her face blurs beneath the movement, dissolving into abstraction as form and identity are pulled into motion.
Throughout Crystallized, makeup artist Reem Jarhum approaches beauty as quiet ritual. Working meditatively, she places each crystal with precision—bridging organic texture with synthetic brilliance. Her sculptural technique avoids loud color in favor of reflective surfaces that communicate desire, power, and presence.
Together with model Stella Esho, the trio—Jarhum, Dumevi, and Melzel—constructs a visual language rooted in identity, transformation, and cultural memory. Positioned at the crossroads of Afrofuturism, high fashion, and performance, Crystallized offers a refined visual poem: one that reflects the fluidity of self and the storytelling power of adornment.
Photographer: Kenneth Dumevi @ken.dumevi
Makeup Artist: Reem Jarhum @reemjarhum
Model: Stella Esho @stella_esho
Fashion designer: Maximilian Franz-Josef Melzel @mf__2j
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