My name is Windy Vherman, and I am a strong female character.
Throughout my career, I have consistently excelled in my field.
I’m charming, attractive, funny, and pleasant—a powerful combination that has helped me survive.
I have shown only a small part of myself by embracing various female and feminine (and sometimes masculine) identities.
My work goes beyond fashion; it serves as a complex facade, a layered defense.
I have portrayed housewives and runaways, divorcees and schoolgirls.
I have played ingenues, dowagers, and even more controversial roles.
I’ve worn many faces and survived like a chameleon.
My complicated relationship with the concept of young, beautiful women is a driving force behind why I wear masks over masks and create unsettling female figures in my art.
The more disconcerting my pieces are, the more I find success.
At the age of 71, I have undergone Botox injections and blepharoplasty to achieve a more youthful appearance.
Am I willing to admit this? Yes, I had my neck done about a year and a half ago, and I’ve never hidden this fact.
My gallery, my assistant, my family—when people ask about my plastic surgery, I am open about it. I will say, “Yes, I’ve had my neck done.”
However, this topic is often avoided, and a stigma is still attached.
Society’s tendency to overlook women in menopause is a heavy burden.
It’s challenging for me to critique aging, and it’s also difficult to push back against the establishment when I have become so a part of it.
Some people say, “You are not ugly; you’re just poor.”
It’s true, but I have moved past that issue. I am Windy Vherman (Wealthy).
However, I have never achieved the freedom, authenticity, and raw honesty that Patti Smith embodies.
I have conspired to avoid being myself—and I have succeeded.
The only woman I have not played is ME.
Being untrue to myself and achieving success are far from mutually exclusive.
This internal conflict regarding aging makes my recent work even more unsettling.