S.T.E.A.M. Painting

S.T.E.A.M. = Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics Beauty and brains — can we have both? Hedy Lamarr proves you can. Deemed the most beautiful woman in the world, she helped lay the groundwork for modern communication technologies such as WIFI, GPS and Bluetooth. Born in Vienna to a well-situated family, Hedy Lamarr learned much about science from conversations with her father. After being discovered by a prominent director at age 16, acting became her main career goal. Eventually, she found her way to Hollywood where she experienced the restraints of sexism for the first time. Beauty somehow meant one had to be dumb, but Hedy Lamarr proved the contrary. An inventor and genius, she was posthumously inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014 showing us that beauty and intelligence do not negate one another, but are both equally wonderful aspects of being a woman. Painted with oil and silver on canvas, the silver was allowed to tarnish slightly before varnishing. In so doing, it lost some of its shine, just as Hedy Lamarr’s reputation through the years, as the value of her invention is criticized for being a publicity stunt. Irrefutably, the woman holds a patent, and today’s knowledge and technology is the sum of all that has come before. Created for the exhibition "FEMMOBILITY -- What do dreams know of boundaries? Dynamic woman: groundbreaking past, present and future."