Marilyn Morph, 2021 by Zam

Even though Marilyn Monroe died nearly 60 years ago, she is still one of the most idolized stars in the world. Her ethereal, yet timeless, and seemingly impervious charisma is testament to an estate which has over the years never strayed far from being top ten, in the ranking of deceased celebrity earners. I was interested to discover that although she was celebrated for her iconic sensual looks which oozed allure, this was ultimately achieved with a surprising number of early surgical procedures; as well as cosmetic enhancements, an elaborate makeup routine which took hours, dye for her famous platinum locks of course, and finished off with designer costumes. By the time her life was over there was almost nothing physically remaining of Norma Jeane Mortenson the mousy orphan. This morph starts with a tribute to her many beach photography sessions in her earliest beginnings as a brunette model in the mid 1940s, through to the height of her celebrity as a leading lady in the mid 1950s.
People tend to focus on the ‘tragedy’ of her later life but her early years were equally as awful. I feel like the transformation on endless loop tells the story; although her appearance and life changed dramatically, no matter what she did, she didn't ever really get anywhere different, when it came to escaping her past. In a way the apotheosis of acting, the sunny image she portrayed to the world almost never betrayed her pain.

If the buyer elects, they may also have a high res copy of one of the primary pieces used to create the morph, which can be viewed on Instagram here: instagram.com/thecountzee/