‘There she is: Parts I & II’ came about after watching the 2017 documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story. The stills are taken from a shaky, hand-held video clip towards the end of Hedy’s life, by which time she was completely reclusive. You can hear the voice of her son, who holds the camera, saying the words “there she is” as she walks into the room, a phrase I imagine she heard many times as one of the worlds most beautiful women. Her face is devastated by plastic surgeries, many of which she had designed herself before such procedures were commonplace. As well as being a highly respected actress she also had a formidable scientific mind and was arguably responsible for inventing the early framework of ‘bluetooth’ technology.

In the background of the drawings we catch a glimpse of a framed photo of herself and Clark Gable, many moons ago. She still holds herself with elegance and poise but she has been relegated into the shadows along with her fading looks and celebrity, only communicating with the outside world via telephone to avoid being seen. I used coloured pencil to heighten the intensity and rawness I felt pervaded this scenario.