Artists Lois Cohen & Indiana Roma Voss

Harlem, New York, USA I 2017

“Betty Boop” is part of “Metamorphosis”, a project in which visual artists Lois Cohen and Indiana Roma Voss attempt to redefine female icons and figures throughout history that has influenced today’s image culture - from religion to pop culture, from art history to cartoons. Essentially by recasting the women embodying these rollmodels and reconstructing certain elements within the classic imagery, the meaning of the image itself changes. Breaking free from the somewhat stereotypical and onedimensional portrayals, the series seeks to create new archetypes of strong women in a photography that aims to be as inclusive as possible.

Betty Boop, the popular cartoon character introduced to the world by cartoonist Max Fleischer in 1930, was actually inspired by a real-life African American jazz singer and entertainer from Harlem named Esther Jones. Her stage name was “Baby Esther”, but unfortunately, when her character became the first and most famous sex symbol in animation she was whitewashed with most people having no idea where the original inspiration came from. Indiana and Lois restored the icon to her orignaly glory, shot in an apartment in Harlem, New York.