Mǎlì-lián Monroe reconceptualizes iconic white American women such as Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Onassis Kennedy and Scarlet O’Hara as an Asian-American woman wearing traditional Chinese Opera makeup. This photo series explores the masks and costumes Asian-American women wear to balance our own ethnic identities with Eurocentric beauty standards. The photographs oscillate between beautiful and grotesque; honest and theatrical; eye-opening, yet bewildering. As a biracial Asian-American woman, I like many, constantly ponder the in-between.
