Lena Dunham‘s mum is cool.
Very cool.
On the off chance you haven’t heard of her, her name’s Laurie Simmons, and she’s a renowned American artist, photographer and filmmaker. She’s been creating since the mid-1970‘s, with much of her work concerning the role of women in society; clear proof the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Most recently, she’s been decking her nood subjects out in full body paint and taking portraits of them. Her latest subject? Her daughter.
Titled Some New: Lena (Pink), 2018, the portrait pays homage to a classic Audrey Hepburn shot from the 1956.
Dunham posted the pic to her Instagram, with a length caption describing how she suggested herself as a subject to her Mum:
“The first thing people ask when I say my mother is a photographer is “wow, you must have so many amazing pictures of you!” While there are a couple of great childhood snaps, they are often by an aunt or my father—really anyone BUT my mom. Her work has focused primarily on dolls and objects. But when she started to take these portraits of people (all in body paint) I actually suggested to her that I’d be the perfect subject. At first she was unmoved but after months of nagging relented and she even let me choose my own inspiration photo (Audrey Hepburn, obvs, cuz curvy girls can do Audrey too.) The entire outfit here- and I mean everything- is body paint and the lens is so specifically my mothers. I learned more about her when she took a picture of me than I have in 25 years of therapy. Her show of new work- up now at Salon 94 in New York City- is stunning and emotional and unusual. And I feel so lucky to have been graced by her lens. You’re forever my creative inspiration, mama @lauriesimmons“
Multi-disciplinary artist Hayden Dunham (no relation) also copped a guernsey:
As did Iranian visual artist, Shirin Neshat:, who is pictured here photobombing her and Grace Dunham‘s portraits:
The photo is part of Simmons’s show, 2017: The Mess and Some New at Salon 94 Bowery, in which “the artist plays with the constructs of portraiture by substituting one aspect of the sitter’s identity with a painted replacement.”
