Jenelle Wexler's daughter Liberty Jaine was just 3 weeks old when an unexpected tradition was born. Jenelle dressed her up as the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and from then on, set out on a mission to highlight nearly 100 additional influential women who have paved (or are currently paving) the way for other women and people in general.
"I first came up with the idea to shoot Liberty as Frida Kahlo, as I thought the two had similar physical features," Jenelle told POPSUGAR. "The shots came out wonderfully, and it was soon after that I thought about other women in history that have contributed to the betterment of women and people as a whole. I feel it is important to try and instill the types of traits these women portrayed. . . intellect, courage, athletic ability, and a multitude of traits I hope I can teach my children."
Liberty, now 9 months old, has since posed in tons of photos as inspiring women (and is usually smiling big thanks to the behind-the-scenes work of her older brother, River). Some of Jenelle's favourite re-creations have been Amelia Earhart, Alicia Keys, Oprah, and Ellen DeGeneres, and she has a bunch more ideas for portrayals in the future, including Chloe Kim, Hedy Lamar, Yoko Ono, and Benazir Bhutto. As for how the re-creations come about, Jenelle puts a lot of DIY effort into the whole operation.
"Making the costumes is so much fun! One of my hobbies is sewing, so I have a plethora of supplies in my craft room to make majority of these outfits," she said. "I also love finding items at thrift stores that I can easily re-create for the photos. I would definitely say the majority of these outfits are DIY from pipe cleaners for earrings to electric rake to make stripes on clothing."
But aside from all the fun the photo shoots inspire, Jenelle hopes that these photos will do so much more for Liberty as she grows up.
"I am hopeful that when Liberty is older and looks back at these photos, she finds them to be fun yet informatively positive," Jenelle said. "I attempted to capture these women's essence in Liberty . . . [and] bring attention to their specific stories to show how important these woman's actions were in helping to shape our current society for the better. I believe these women continue to inspire the young females of present day to push boundaries and strive beyond equality. I feel it is important to pay tribute to the women who fought for and helped protect and further women's causes. I only hope these are the individuals that Liberty herself chooses to admire and aspire to be like."
See a few of Liberty's adorable portrayals below!