Red Herrings (1998)
New York, 1955: Photojournalist Ed Feingersh is given the job of shadowing one of the most mythologised women of the 20th Century – Marilyn Monroe. Her visit culminates in a fund raising event (and publicity stunt) in which she enters a circus ring riding an elephant painted pink. Leeds, 1996: I see one of the lesser-known Feingersh photographs of Marilyn Monroe. She is being fitted for a corset at Brooks Costume. The fitting is watched by a group of unidentified women. Leeds & New York, 1996-1998: the juxtaposition of unknown women alongside this celebrated figure result in Red Herrings. This bookwork reconstructs the 1950s photograph, while at the same time, attempts to trace the unidentified women in the original photograph.
RED HERRINGS
32 pages, Edition of 500
25 illustrations, 12 colour, 13 monochrome
5 contact strips & photograph by Ed Feingersh © Michael Ochs Archive/Venice, CA 1988
21 cm wide x 25 cm height (one with additional 8 cm fold-out section)
ISBN 0 901981 65 6
Wild Pansy Press, Leeds 1998
Also see Archives The Fitting and Writings A Practice PhD experience