18. Amy Winehouse cartoon

We often remember events in our own lives through moments when celebrities made the headlines: the murder of John Lennon, Princess Diana’s wedding, or the deaths of Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse. A visual language has emerged from simplified images of these familiar faces and has found its way into art. This recalls an era when art centred on royalty and religion. Today’s celebrities have become a new kind of royalty, embodying widely shared ideals: a single face can stand for beauty, intelligence or courage. These faces become highly idealised symbols. As artificial intelligence develops and reality becomes increasingly digital, these constructed identities may be elevated to an almost divine status, their famous faces untouched by age, fatigue, illness or death. New possibilities are emerging in this symbolic world that we create together around celebrity faces.