5th HELENA

Mathew Hale (United Kingdom)

Galata Greek Primary School

“Marilyn asked Mrs. Murray to find her a house. Mrs. Murray found a Mexican hacienda-style house on Fifth Helena Drive… 13,000 men of the Forty-Fifth roared their approval as Marilyn gave a brilliant, spontaneous performance… DiMaggio was enraged by the hoopla over the Korea visit and threatened to divorce her on their honeymoon. During the tour, Marilyn was hiding an injured hand. Her right thumb had been broken there. The injury drew the curiosity of a reporter. ‘I just bumped it.’ Marilyn explained. ‘I have a witness. Joe was there. He heard it crack.’ … Checked in this male who is in the Service and has lost his leg in Vietnam… His artificial leg is attached just below the knee, the stub raw and sore… Before dawn on Sunday, August 5, 1962, a warm wind swept off the Mojave Desert and rushed into the Los Angeles basin, swaying the tall trees that formed a curtain of privacy around 12305 Fifth Helena Drive.” –MH

Mathew Hale’s 5thHELENA is a multimedia installation that explores the concepts of celebrity, mass media, domesticity, privacy, sexuality, and death. The title of the work is a reference to Marilyn Monroe’s last residence at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles, where she was found dead in 1962. Like much of Hale’s work, 5thHELENA comprises newspaper clippings, prints, collages, projections, C-prints, paint and other media loosely put together to create fluid narratives.