Chapter 4 - Newfound Fame
Mountweazel had been famous as a fountain designer, but in her years of absence she had been forgotten almost entirely. But she experienced a rising fame as a photographer, and her fame in photography soon exceeded that of her fame in fountain design. But how?
Mountweazel produced a wide variety of photo-essays in 1963 for Amani Photography (whom she never learned the correct name of) and experienced rather limited success, selling only a few copies in the suburbs of New York, national fame yet to be reached. The photo-essays themselves were of unusual subject matter -- one particularly unsuccessful photo-essay of hers captured the supposed “glory” of orange peels.
This particular photo collection was lambasted by critics. One, named Demarcus Alexandrovna, wrote:
“This photo-essay is of completely poor taste! The quality of the photographs is completely atrocious! And how distasteful it was to prance around shooting pictures of orange peels in the most nonconformist locations of New York! Simply lamentable; Amani Photography needs to hire real photographers, not the amateur, New Age fools seemingly gathered from the wastelands!”
Mountweazel was heartbroken from this criticism, but she also had an air of perseverance that is unclear in its origins. This newfound confidence has been remarked as “jarring” by onlookers and Mountweazel describes it herself in a 1973 diary entry:
When I first saw the criticisms of Demarcus Alexandrovna, I didn’t know what I was thinking. But I did know what I felt -- I felt the ever-familiar feeling of complete heartbreak and despair, that was completely unwarranted. But then, I had an epiphany. These critics and judges are condemning me for no reason -- all successful artists were subject to lambasting at some point. And I realized that I could sit and suffer in criticism or I could rise from the ashes like a phoenix into stardom and fame and renown and prove them all ever so wrong.
And in fact, Mountweazel did prove her critics wrong, as she found sudden success in the next year, 1964.
~Mountweazel had been working vigorously for Amani Photography for over a year and had shown no signs of wear. She had been growing more popular in New York, but was about to receive a sudden boost in fame.
Mountweazel had been promoted to the higher class of Amani and was recruited by its boss to take a photograph of the South Sierra Miwok. What the South Sierra Miwok actually was was lost to the world until very recently; it was revealed to be some sort of tribal wood sculpture. Sadly, the photographs of it are missing, despite all the fame it once had.
After submitting her photos to Amani, Mountweazel did not think much of it. But very soon, her portrait made national and even international news, her works being described as “beacons of hope” by some news stations. The mayor of New York was so impressed that he petitioned Congress to send a copy of the portrait to space, and the petition was passed miraculously.
The headlines celebrating Mountweazel were full of praise and skyrocketed Mountweazel to a position of national stardom, and she was recognized wherever she went, being named as one of Time’s people of the year. ZYX News dubbed Mountweazel the “world’s most successful breakout star of the year of 1964.”
Mountweazel was far more recognized as a photographer than she’d been as a fountain designer. Reporters were adamant on capturing every detail of Mountweazel's life, and she found it hard to find privacy. The paparazzi scouted incessantly to find Demarcus Alexandrovna, who said sheepishly in an interview that his comments about Mountweazel had been a “mistake.”
Mountweazel wrote about all of this stardom in her diary as well:
The skyrocket to fame, the sudden stardom -- all because of my esteemed photographs of the South Sierra Miwok. It’s still so surreal. I am ever thankful to all of my supporters, and to all figures of my past and I hope that if I were to perish they would know of my everlasting gratitude towards them. And though my thankfulness can never be truly expressed, this fame has been troublesome.
Despite all of my loving fans, whom I love in greater return, there are still those who hate my works. And despite the millions of supporting fans, the scathing insults of a few dozen hurt me to my core -- awhile back, I had found a new confidence inside myself, ignoring the remarks of Alexandrovna, but it is increasingly difficult to overcome the painful burden the multitudes of haters engraved upon my mental tombstone.
And alongside the haters comes the paparazzi, and even the fans and reporters -- all can be difficult to deal with. The constant need for updates on my livelihood, the ever-increasing desire for new collections of photos, the omnipresent tracking of the paparazzi makes it hard to find any privacy at all. In fact, whilst I write this, I can feel the shadows of the paparazzi outside my walls and I can sense the eavesdropping binoculars of my crazed fans.
Despite this solemn and sombre attitude displayed in these entries, Mountweazel is said to have shown a sassy, quippy attitude rather unmentioned in her diary. She was very lively and one particular article sent her into laughter, that being titled “Lo and behold: New York’s hottest up-and-coming photographer -- Lillian Virginia Mountweazel!”
What further separated Mountweazel from the hoi polloi was her constant vigor -- even after her South Sierra Miwok success, which had granted financial security for potential centuries, Mountweazel continued her hard work. In December 1964, Mountweazel was awarded government grants to make a series of photo-essays of unusual subject matter, and she would pursue this in the following year, her so-called Year of Expedition.
Dec 28, 2020
by
AureliusReyes
