Everyday SuperHeroines

This piece was painted with acrylic on canvas in 2020.

Similar to my intent with Hedy Lamarr, I focused on more women who I feel embody many good things about women and feminist movements. Whether it was because they had done something good for equality and is a powerful influential figure like Michelle Obama, or if they are more than the sum of the parts society plastered onto them like Marilyn Monroe, or if they used their fame and wealth to give back like Audrey Hepburn.

With these three women I chose (Michelle Obama, Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn), I wanted to find a way to highlight how strong and influential they all were in their own special ways. The first place my mind went was superheroes, people like Wonder Woman, Super Girl, Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, Spider Woman, Storm, and more. All of these ideas ran through my head as I deliberated on what to do with these three women - which role best fit them, which photos to use that best encapsulated how I wanted them to be viewed, etc. Finally, I settled on Super Girl, Wonder Woman, and Bat Girl, inspired by this piece:

While it might be more obvious why I chose Michelle Obama and Audrey Hepburn - for their humanitarian work and being a voice for equality - perhaps my decision to include Marilyn Monroe might be lost for some people.

I wanted to emphasize the importance of how Marilyn's sensuality, femininity, beauty, persistence, integrity, and fearlessness to be gentle is all a part of her strength as an individual and a woman. Unfortunately, Marilyn Monroe was and has been seen as a "sex symbol" throughout the world ever since her rise to fame. However, that wasn't who she was, nor is it what her legacy is today.

Having grown up in a less-than-ideal childhood, a foster child with no father and no real family, Marilyn Monroe had a depth of soul and character that was never got to be translated onto screen. She wanted to be taken seriously as an actress, not to be seen as the dumb blonde characters she so frequently was cast as. She studied acting and worked to memorize her lines; she was camera shy and had anxiety about being in front of a camera despite her love of acting; she was a real human being whose inner life was neglected, or even ignored, by those around her.

Marilyn also wanted to be a mother, more than anything. She wanted to have children, but due to her endometriosis, every pregnancy ended in failure. For a long time, being a mother was the only thing that women were seen fit for. A job and a woman making her own money wasn't seen as "proper" for a lady to do. However, Marilyn Monroe wanted to do both. She had goals beyond the surface that were dismissed and overwritten as her being a frilly, shiny young blonde who was only "good" for being cast as a dumb blonde and a national sex symbol.

She was human and had human emotions, and I felt that the societal monolith "Marilyn Monroe" overpowered the human Marilyn Monroe, aka Norma Jeane. I felt she deserved to shown as someone who has more power than she was given in her lifetime, and so I cast her as Super Girl in this painting. I chose this picture for her, because I felt her smile encapsulated the strength of her softness:

Marilyn Monroe photographed by Cecil Beaton, 1956.