The Screen Gallery

Throughout her career, she was always expected to maintain the same persona, just like how James Harvey writes in his journal regarding Monroe's cinematic career "she was slightly grotesque. Like a walking dirty joke- too outrageous for the politer company of the leading players, and so most of the time she was cast as the generic dumb blonde." The people and the media demanded more of the same persona and in order for Marilyn to stay successful, she played the same role over and over again to the point where she became the role to the eyes of the audience to this day.

For the past few weeks, I have finished digitally painting Marilyn's photo, which is considered to be one of the most commercialized and famous photographs of her and decided to create a short story showing how media's "demands" and "expectations" continue to stay the same even after her tragic death. Suddenly, what was thought as her life became way more interesting and moving as any other "dumb blonde" role that she has played in her movies.

As Harvey states in his essay "The public grief was extraordinary. And it was only then, in a sense, that the real Marilyn Monroe movie began." The public to this day has a huge appetite for her pictures and the media still demands more of her and makes profit out of her image.

Nikta Hashemian

I am a digital artist living in Calgary, Alberta and am currently majoring in media arts in Alberta University of the Arts. I was born and raised in Iran, therefore sometimes I create art that gets inspirations from my roots. I am interested in criticizing events that take place in my everyday life. I enjoy using art in expressing my thoughts regarding social and political issues.

I believe art is a powerful language and has the potential to lead to great changes in the world. I have been involved in creating digital paintings as well as animation and animation installations.

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