behind the scene In order to try and bring Marilyn Monroe back to life I have worked with several women. From different walks of life, backgrounds and professions, their resemblance to the star aside, they all share something else in common, they are “Every day” women, (something Marilyn might have aspired to be even if for an instant), and as such enjoy the privilege of anonymity. They are from France, Germany and the sates of Florida, California, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Tennessee in America. As potential models for this particular project each and everyone of them had to have something in their facial structures that bore enough similarity with those of Marilyn for me to work with. I have greatly appreciated their collaboration in this project and the free spirited, generous gift of lending me their “Selves” in order to become someone else in the process, something that can be both at once, thrilling and discouraging. I hope they have enjoyed the experience and it is important for me to thank them and so, Irene, Dana, Elisa, Cathy, Tasha, Holly, Summer, Fawn and Prune THANK YOU. Many thanks as well to my longtime friend and skilled seamstress Rattana whose magic fingers were so instrumental in the making of the many garments needed for the photographs, most especially her sequined dresses creations: Rattana THANK YOU. Styling, makeup, and hairdressing I took care of on my own as I went along. To create the images was always work, always challenging and required patience. Strangely, I have always felt that something else, something more animistic in nature dare I say of another realm, was at work supporting me in this endeavor.

Walking on sacred ground I gave much thought to what I was doing, without losing sight of the fact that it had to be done with great deference. In the process, something I had always imagined became even clearer to me; Had Marilyn never been born, it IS NOT that we should have invented her, it is that we could NOT have invented her. The everlasting legacy of this wondrous effusive American icon speaks volumes in this regard and the boundless source of inspiration she remains for us all surely corroborates that fact. Lastly, I want to THANK YOU Marilyn for your TALENTS, your BEAUTY and last but not least your HUMANITY making this life more tolerable in the face of violence, sadness and mediocrity.