Since the invention of the daguerreotype in 1839, photography has allowed the photographer to present concepts, ideas and remarks on society through a single visual image. The context and concept behind photographs has become increasingly more important as the public’s understanding of political, social and environmental struggles has improved, and photography helps to portray a deeper meaning and understanding of society’s problems. The presentation of gender roles and stereotypes has been a popular concept within art and photography throughout the history of both art forms, but it is only recently that artists have begun to directly challenge these stereotypes in their work. The deeply ingrained gender stereotypes found in society, some more subtle than others, have been present throughout history, and society’s views throughout history have developed and changed. In my personal study I wish to be able to show these changes and developments in gender stereotypes through the 20th and 21st century, and show how as we have progressed as a society into the modern world, our ideas about having strict and rigid gender stereotypes, roles and ideals has changes, and having these clear roles has become less important, yet evidence for stereotyping still remains. Out of the many artists who study gender stereotypes in their work, I have chosen to focus on photographers Cindy Sherman and Phoebe Jane Barrett, who both present gender roles in the 21st century, but with very different takes and approaches. I have chosen to study these artists, because I believe both Barrett and Sherman convey strong context and meaning through their images, while at the same time producing work that really engages the viewer, and allows for a dialogue to be opened about the way that society and the media portrays versions of both men and women, that are not true to real life, thus forcing people to adopt stereotypical behaviour in order to fit in to a social norm. Sherman specifically comments on the fact that her work is meant to represent the issues with the presentation of women in media as a whole, and therefore attempts to mask her own identity in order to allow the concept to be generalised to women more widely. Although she uses self-portraits to present her work, she believes “It’s about obscuring my identity, erasing or obliterating myself. It’s not fantasy or pretending or narcissism. It’s not about me.” (O’Hagan, S. 2019). In order to compare these two artists, I will need to find both similarities, such as the concept of drawing attention to gender stereotypes and their presentation, and differences, such as their different visual portrayals of these stereotypes and the way in which they approach their work. Both artists approach towards challenging historically rigid and strict gender roles and stereotypes can be seen as an attempt to redefine what society sees as acceptable for each gender, and bending the rules in order to allow individuals to express themselves freely without being judged. Phoebe Jane Barrett acknowledges the consequences of these strict barriers to individual expression, and her quote, “I wish that gender created less of a divide between people“…

Bibliography:

O’Hagan, S. (2019), Cindy Sherman: ‘I enjoy doing the really difficult things that people can’t buy. London: The Guardian. 06/12/2019; 15:11. <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jun/08/cindy-sherman-interview-exhibition-national-portrait-gallery>

Marili. (2019), Soft, Intimate and Emotive: Redefining Masculinity with Photographer Phoebe Jane Barrett: Germany: EyeEm. 10/12/2019; 15:16. <https://www.eyeem.com/blog/redefining-masculinity-with-photographer-phoebe-jane-barrett-2018>