Boulevard of broken dreams: Artist captures women on society's periphery who moved to Hollywood to find fame and fortune but somehow lost their way

These women moved to Hollywood in pursuit of fame and fortune, with dreams of seeing their faces and names on the silver screen.

But what they got was something less, with harsh realities often sending their dreams adrift in the wind.

Photographer and arti st Lise Sarfati ca ptures these women in haunting detail, often lingering in parking lots or windows, looking into the life that was once within their reach.

Looking in: Malaika, whose bleached locks resemble Hollywood starlet Marilyn Monroe, looking in a window on Sunset Boulevard in 2010; these haunting images were captured by artist Lise Sarfati

Gazing: Vinny Ann was photographed at Hollywood & Highland in 2010

Cigarette break: Emily smokes in front of 2860 Sunset Blvd in 2010

The story is a familiar one – a fresh-faced girl from a small town moves to Los Angeles in hopes of hitting the big time.

There was something about their small town that wasn’t satisfactory, and so they moved away, leaving everything they knew. But somewhere along the line, their dreams fell apart.

She to ld American Suburb X in an interview with Francois Adragna that the subjects she chose were all women who worked in Hollywood, including ‘saleswomen, dancers, strippers, junkies, fetishists, unknown actresses, out-of-towners, lost…women at the end of their rope.’

Ms Sarfati used Kodachrome 64, the same used in Hollywood movies in the 1940s, to capture these images, giving further poignancy to the collection of 14 photographs, together entitled ‘On Hollywood.’



Hollywood hopes: Ajibike, pictured at 6433 Hollywood Blvd in 2010; the images were all shot in Kodachrome 64, the same used in 1940s Hollywood films

Isolation: Kelly, smoking a cigarette outside of 4306 Beverly Blvd in 2010

Long and winding road: Elisabeth, West 23rd Street, 2010

She said she was inspired by Guy Debord’s concept of ‘psycho-geographical wanderings,’ – that is to say, how location and geography play a role in a person’s own emotion.

The result was snapping her subjects in often isolated areas – a vulnerable blond peering through a window, a raven-haired woman in front of a gentleman’s club staring moodily off into the distance.

Ms Sarfati refers to her subjects as sort of anti-heroes, always at the periphery, and waiting for their big break, which may or may not come.

The collection of images, which were taken between 2009 and 2010, has been on display a t the Yossi Milo gallery in Manhattan’s gallery district in Chelsea.

Hanging around: A woman named Elisabeth at Sunset Blvd & North Poinsettia, 2010

Grey gardens: Danna, stands in front of a shuttered up building at 6323 Hollywood Blvd in 2010