Lessana

Since her death in 1962, Marilyn Monroe has generated a plethora of narratives and an industry of images that portray her as everything from the embodiment of a dream to a self-destructive heroine. Rejecting the familiar tropes of a difficult upbringing, volatile depression, professional insecurity, and tempestuous affairs and marriages, PORTRAIT OF A SHOOTING STAR reveals what really lies behind the brilliance and the mysteries of one of the most iconic women of the twentieth century. Shedding light on her desire to be treated as an intellectual equal, this work highlights her determination not to be cast as a victim. In describing her progress through the worlds of cinema, photography, and theater, Marie-Magdeleine Lessana has drawn out the unseen threads of Marilyn’s life and enduring significance, honing in on something crucial and all too often forgotten: her own agency and her grasp of the truth.