The Movies Were Her Escape

Please note, this artwork is only available unframed.

Sarah Arnett created The Movies were her Escape especially for Enter Gallery’s 2022 Virtual Art Yard Sale.

The Movies Were Her Escape is inspired by actress, Anna May Wong, who used to run away from school to watch the action on film sets in her home town of LA.

Wong worked hard to become an actress but once she started landing roles, she noticed she was always cast as either the seductive temptress or the evil oriental spy. This led her to fight to highlight the tired racial typecasting and exoticized roles given to Asian actresses. She stated:

“When I die, my epitaph should be: I died a thousand deaths. That was the story of my film career. They didn’t know what to do with me at the end, so they killed me off.”

In Arnett’s piece, Wong is represented as a Mother or creator, part-astronaut part-architect of a new world, all the parts she never played.

This giclée print is from a limited edition of 60, signed and numbered by the artist. 

Size (cm): 84 x 59