Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is an American Photographer, who was born January 19th 1954, in New Jersey.

In 1972, Sherman enrolled in the visual arts department at Buffalo State University, where she majored in painting. During this time, she began to explore the ideas which became a hallmark of her work. She dressed herself as different characters, wearing thrift store clothing. Frustrated with what she saw as the limitations of painting as a medium of art, she abandoned it and took up photography. ‘There was nothing more to say through painting’, she recalled. ‘I was meticulously copying other art, and then I realized I could just use a camera and put my time into an idea instead.’ Sherman has said about this time. She spent the remainder of her college course focussed on photography. Though Sherman had failed a required photography class as a freshman, she repeated the course with Barbara Jo Revelle, who she credited with introducing her to conceptual art and other contemporary forms. At college she met Robert Longo, a fellow artist who encouraged her to record her process of dolling up for parties. This was the beginning of her Untitled Film Stills series.

Sherman was always interested in experimenting with different identities. As she has explained, ‘I wish I could treat every day as Halloween, and get dressed up and go out into the world as some eccentric character.’

About Untitled Film Stills

Cindy Sherman created a set of images called film stills comprising of over seventy black and white photographs made between 1977 and 1980. Her images were called film stills, because her images in untitled film stills resemble publicity pictures made on movie sets, adopted from female roles in magazines, advertisements and especially movies.

Cindy Sherman explored identity through her untitled film stills and some of her later work, as it was always her behind the camera, yet these images are never really self-portraits. Sherman uses photography as a tool to deceive, and evades her own personality by taking on different identities. She used vintage clothing, wigs and make-up, so she could create an entire range of personalities. Sherman takes on many roles , such as being behind the camera, the photographer, director, hairdresser, set designer and stylist. In conducting herself to working with only her own body, she is capable to explore the endless possibilities of this seemingly limited subject. The different personas Sherman depicts are stereotypes that represent a series of clichés, such as career girl, bombshell, fashion victim, schoolgirl, society lady, etc. and all these characters are deeply embedded in our cultural history. All Sherman’s personas in ‘Untitled Film Stills’ project the constructed idea of the women’s image, pointing out the arbitrariness of the female stereotypes.

Cindy Sherman displayed these images of female stereotypes, so that she could present the seductive and often oppressive influence of mass-media over our individual and collective identities. She also wanted to present the different ways culture defines a ‘women.’ Her art plays on the feminist idea that gender arises exclusively within culture and deconstructs dominant gender ideologies, representing the underside of popular culture’s definition of ‘women.’

Her Images

Analysis of one Image

This photograph of Cindy Sherman, that she also took using equipment such as a timer, looks into the topic of femininity and masculinity, as she is producing many different female stereotypes. Sherman dresses up as many different common stereotypes, like she has in this photo. She has dressed up as a housewife, because a common stereotype is that women should be mothers and housewives. This photo also suggests the idea that she is a mother, because she is looking over her shoulder into the distance, which could suggests she is watching a child, while trying to cook dinner or lunch. We are given the impression she is cooking, from the props, which include salt, dish soap, the handle of a cooking pan etc. This suggests that she is in the kitchen, because this is where all these props are commonly found. Sherman also looks more feminine in this photo, because another stereotype of women is that they should look more feminine, because this is what society deems correct. Sherman presents all these different stereotypes to show that she can be anyone, as she has dressed up and been all of these ‘characters’ and stereotypes. This shows that no one knows the real Cindy Sherman, just like no one knows people beneath their stereotypes.

The lighting used in this image was artificial lighting, as the photo was taken inside. This image also has high levels of control, because it is a tableaux image, which Cindy Sherman has had control over her positioning and location, as she was able to manipulate everything in this image, from her looking over her shoulder, to the pots and pans in frame.

This image is a black and white image, with lots of light and dark tones. The layout and composition of this image was organised, so that the pot handle was in the foreground, the salt in the middle ground and Cindy Sherman in the background, so that there was a leading line to her as she was the main viewpoint. This image also has high contrast, due to it being in black and white.

The Importance of Her Work

Cindy Sherman’s work is of great importance, because she displays women, how the media also displays women, so that she can make all the viewers aware of how the media and culture define women. She presented these different stereotypes, so that when her images were viewed the viewers would realise this is not the only identities of women and there is so many more past these stereotypes. She also presented herself as all these different stereotypes, so she could present that identity could be anything and she displayed this by becoming a range of different identities in her work.

Her work is of great importance to women and myself, as she made a stand against how the media defines a women and against the stereotypes they identify women as. This is of importance, because it has allowed future women, like myself to find my own identity and not have to follow these social norms that were set by society with these stereotypes.

How I am taking Inspiration from her work

I am using Cindy Sherman’s work for inspiration, because I like how she explores and presents female stereotypes, instead of presenting images that oppose the female stereotypes. In my work I not only want to present opposing female stereotypes, but I also want to present female stereotypes, so that I can present to the viewers that you do not have to comply with social norms, but if that is your identity and what you want to be that is okay as well. I will also take inspiration from the stereotypes that Cindy Sherman has used in some of her images, for example;

• Housewife
• Cleaning
• Cooking
• Crying
• Wearing an apron
• Looking in the mirror
• Rich Lady Smoking
• career girl
• bombshell
• fashion victim
• schoolgirl
• society lady

For my photos I am also creating tableaux images, that look like candid shots. For my images I am going to manipulate the positions, pose, distance, narrative and more, just like Cindy Sherman did. However, I am not going to be taking images of myself like Sherman did, but instead I am going to be taking images of a group of girls (my friends). I am also not really going to have them dress up in all these different outfits, like Cindy Sherman does, but I may do for the odd photo.