Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman explores femininity by dressing up in many different costumes and wigs and then did many different makeup looks to create these different feminine characters to show the vulnerability of women.

In this image Cindy Sherman is seen posing in front of her mirror with her jacket over her shoulder, this pose shows her being vulnerable as her back is shown through the reflection of the mirror. The colour in this image is in black and white and her black dress is showing her femininity.

The meaning behind Cindy Sherman’s photography is to emphasise the many roles women have and that they have to cook and clean and be a housewife but then women have to be this desirable person for there husbands as well and her photography expresses these many roles that women should have. Cindy Sherman has said herself ‘When I’m shooting, I’m trying to get to a point where I’m basically not recognising myself. That’s often what it’s about.’ The quote suggests that the whole point of her photography was to create these stereotypes that didn’t look like Cindy Sherman at all and looked like a completely different women.

Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger does lots of poster type images with slogans and quotes that represent her ideas. Barbara’s images look at femininity and masculinity.

The contrast between the black and white image and the red and white writing makes the slogans stand out on the image so that the writing is clearly presented to the person viewing her work.

The meaning behind Barbara Kruger’s photography was to express the many stereotypes of women and her photography and slogans often exposed women for things that they might of been insecure or conscious of.

Claude Cahun

Claude Cahun’s photography was very surreal and was about very realistic, raw pictures. Claude Cahun’s photos only had her in the images and a lot like Cindy Sherman she dressed up in different clothes that were seen as neither feminine or masculine and did many different makeup looks to create these stereotypes.

The shape of the chair in Claude Cahun’s photo almost makes her look royal and important. The contrast between the shadows and the white top she is wearing makes the stereotype of the woman she is trying to be stand out and become more visible to the person viewing her image.

The meaning behind Claude Cahun’s photography was to explore gender identity and the subconscious mind. The outfits that she took her photos in were designed to be neither feminine nor masculine which made her photography so unique and different because she was exploring being neither gender. Claude Cahun was not originally called Claude Cahun, she used to be called Lucy Schwob this shows that she changed her name to be Claude which can be either a women’s name or a mans name. Claude Cahun’s hair also got shaved off from her being captured by German’s and being put into a concentration camp which makes her not look feminine and explores the idea of her not being feminine or masculine. The quote from Claude Cahuns book from The Gardian says “No, I will follow the wake in the air, the trail on the water, the mirage in the pupil … I wish to hunt myself down, to struggle with myself.” This quote suggests that she wants to go through all the struggles of her career and learn and fail and try again to get to be successful.