Muse

Marilyn Monroe was Hollywood’s glorious rose, which was also her favourite flower. After rising to fame, Monroe’s rose began to wither, as she fought mental illness and substance abuse.

​The four paintings chart her glory, fragmentation, and eventual death from barbiturate overdose. The choice to use hand ground ink on fragile, imperfect rice paper as the medium, together with Chinese brush painting technique (which permits no mistakes as each wash is permanent), seemed to be an apposite way of representing her descent.