Bettie Page house restored with Divine intervention
Sep 8, 2016, 2:40 PM | Updated: Sep 9, 2016, 6:07 am
Seattle's famous Bettie Page mural has been restored and is now joined by drag queen Divine. (Dyer Oxley, MyNorthwest)
(Dyer Oxley, MyNorthwest)
Seattle’s Bettie Page house mural is back, and now boasts a famous addition — historic drag queen Divine.
Feminism vs Feminism: Vandals deface Bettie Page house
A home in Seattle’s Roosevelt/Ravenna area has long been known for the giant Bettie Page mural painted on its side facing I-5. Drivers along that stretch have become familiar with it.
But the mural was defaced over the summer when someone splashed paint across the art and wrote, “Stop exploiting women’s bodies” on the house. The message was signed by “some feminists.”
Homeowner Jessica Baxter had the mural painted on her house for her 30th birthday. She responded to the vandalism with her own message on the house: “Autonomous sexuality is empowerment, telling a woman to cover up is oppression.”
New mural on the Bettie Page house
Now, the mural has been restored. The vandal’s paint has been carefully removed and the Bettie Paige house mural has received some touch-ups.
But Bettie is not alone. Now joining her on the side of the house is a giant mural of Divine — a famous drag queen. In a bright red dress and flashing makeup, neither of the figures will be hard to miss for commuters.
Divine worked in the theater scene from the 1960s through the ’80s, and was made popular in John Waters movies such as”Pink Flamingos” and “Hairspray.”
The mural’s repair and the addition of Divine is thanks to local artist Matthew Brennan IV, aka Two Thangs, according to the Seattle Times.
Divine passed away in 1988 — around the time “Hairspray” was released in theaters. Page died in 2008. But for Seattle, there will always be a reminder of their legacies along I-5.
Baxter told the Times of the new mural, “There is no wrong way to be feminine, no wrong way to be a woman, despite the status quo.”
