Site specific installation. c prints made from found photographs, resin, aluminum, spotlights and light stands.
This window installation consists of objects derived from vintage photographs. The original images were made during a publicity stunt staged for the 1955 film, The Seven Year Itch, starring Marilyn Monroe. The image of Monroe’s white pleated dress blowing in the air is understood as one of the most iconic spontaneous moments in American visual culture. In fact, these images are a result of an orchestrated paparazzi spectacle that took place in the middle of the night on the streets of Manhattan with dozens of professional photographers in attendance. My storefront window installation situates the viewer on the street as the spectator to five abstracted photographic sculptures lit by spotlights, which recall this iconic moment while also rendering it unrecognizable. The mythology behind photographs of Marilyn Monroe makes us believe that these snapshots are of the “girl next door,” but they are deliberately constructed images of a carefully crafted persona. We’re watching a skilled actor give a performance; these are not naive and innocent photographs made without premeditation.