Lena Dunham poses in nothing but body paint in photo taken by her mom
Lena Dunham is stripping down for an Audrey Hepburn-inspired photo — shot by Dunham’s photographer mother — wearing nothing but body paint.
On Monday, the Girls creator Instagrammed the image, which shows her wearing bright-red lipstick and covered in body paint that mimics black pants and a black-and-white long-sleeved top while holding a retro phone.
“The first thing people ask when I say my mother is a photographer is, ‘Wow, you must have so many amazing pictures of you!’” wrote Dunham on the post, which has more than 45,000 likes. “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.”
A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Apr 30, 2018 at 10:20am PDT
Dunham wrote that when her mom started to take portraits of people all in body paint, she suggested to her mom that she’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.),” she wrote. “The entire outfit here — and I mean everything — is body paint and the lens is so specifically my mother’s.”
She added, “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.”
Her mom, Laurie Simmons, who is based in New York, did not return Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. 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.”
Dunham chose to depict Hepburn, per W magazine, due to both women struggling with ongoing health problems (Hepburn died of colon cancer in 1993 and Dunham has battled endometriosis).
Other celebrities who have experimented with body paint are wrestler Ronda Rousey, who showed off her painted bottom for Sports Illustrated in 2016, which took about 12 hours to complete.
A post shared by MJ Day (@mj_day) on Jan 5, 2016 at 8:15am PST
Blac Chyna got painted in 2017. “In celebration of Black History Month, I wanted to push out my inner Queen, express my ethnicity and beauty unapologetically!” Chyna told People.
A post shared by Blac Chyna (@blacchyna) on Feb 1, 2017 at 10:46am PST
Kim Kardashian got the same treatment for a 2015 photo shoot in the desert. “We ate KFC Fried Chicken on the way there and got In-N-Out Burger and donuts on the way home LOL,” she wrote on her website.
A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Dec 1, 2015 at 2:32pm PST
And one year later, Kylie Jenner channeled her big sister with a photo that depicted her dripping in metallic blue paint.
unreleased project with @sashasamsonova
A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Nov 8, 2016 at 9:06am PST
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Lena Dunham Shares Topless Photo After Getting Candid About Her Recent Hysterectomy and Breakup
Jack Antonoff Praises Ex Lena Dunham’s ‘Beautiful’ Essay About Hysterectomy
Why Lena Dunham Says She’ll Always Wear Her Ring From Ex Jack Antonoff
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