Literary sources: Go to this blog post here: Theory: Literary Sources and copy relevant key texts relating to the subject of your essay and list in alphabetical order in your bibliography. In addition, find your own key texts in relation to artists selected for in-depth analysis in your essay and list these too. These texts could be interviews with the artist, or reviews/ critique’s written by others. See useful online sites/ sources here .

• Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video that relates to your personal study and artists references .
• Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
• It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
• Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages, page number to be used for in-text referencing etc.

• Essay Question
• Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
• Below is a list of possible essay questions that may help you to formulate your own.

possible-essay-questions-to-investigate

Some examples of Personal Study essays from previous students:

Essay Plan
Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure

• Essay question:
• Opening quote

To what extent does Cindy Sherman and Justine Kurland explore female stereotypes.

‘To collect photographs is to collect the world’
Susan Sontag, On Photography 1977

• Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
• Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. 
• Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
• Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

• Sontag, S. (1977) ‘In Plato’s Cave’ In On Photography. London: Penguin Books

Essay writing: Here is a link to another blog post which will provide you with guideline about how to structure each paragraph in your essay.

To what extent does Cindy Sherman and Justine Kurland explore female stereotypes.

‘To collect photographs is to collect the world’
Susan Sontag, On Photography 1977

To explore stereotypes means to focus on something that is a set idea that people have about what someone or something is like, especially an idea that is wrong. They are able to shape our perceptions of groups of individuals which can lead to misunderstanding and sometimes discrimination. I am going to be looking at the area of female and teenage stereotypes. The artists I want to explore are Cindy Sherman and Justine Kurland. I have chosen Cindy Sherman as she focuses on female stereotypes within her work, her photography is important because of the way it depicts how women are viewed in society. I have also chosen Justine Kurland as her focus in photography is on girlhood. Her images are representations of both childhood adventures and current experiences. Both artists explore the issues with stereotypes and draw attention to it. Both photographers stage their photo shoots instead of them being documentary photographs. Cindy Sherman regularly alters her appearance beyond recognition through make-up, prosthetics, and costumes. To create her images, she assumes the multiple roles of photographer, model, makeup artist, hairdresser, and stylist. She becomes the character in the story she is attempting to portray through her images. Justine Kurland also sets up her images but not with herself, instead using real people she approach in her elaborate staging of photographs. Kurland has used staged tableaux to explore the social landscape of girlhood, life on communes, and life in the wilderness. Both photographers’ images represent mirrors. Mirror images are usually called this when the photographer is trying to demonstrate or reflect something that they feel about themselves. John Szarkowski in his text, said a mirror is ‘reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it’ and ‘a mirror- a romantic expression of the photographer’s sensibility as it projects itself on the things and sights of the world (Szarkowski 1978). These two artists are mirrors as Cindy Sherman is a women herself and is trying to reflect her feelings and opinions on it to the viewers, and Kurland mirrors her own childhood through the use of other girls a representation.

Historical context: Feminism

Both of he artists I am focussing on have images published between 1977-2002. Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills composes of over seventy black and white photographs made between 1977 and 1980. By 1970, feminists had inspired women and men across the United States. Whether in politics, the media, or private households, the topic of feminism was everywhere. The representation of women in art in the past shared the idea that women were good enough to be painted, but not to paint. They were usually represented for their physical appearance and not as the ones who would do the paintings. Theorist L van Zoomen said, ‘a core element of western patriarchal culture is the display of woman’s spectacle to be looked at, [and] subjected to the gaze of the (male) audience.’ (van Zoomen 2019). I agree with this quote as it was usual for women to be in the paintings and not be the painter, usually posing in certain ways that would be more appealing for a male audience. Historical female photographers include artists such as Julia Margaret-Cameron and Claude Cahun. Cameron (1815-79) revolutionised photography and immortalised the age of the eminent Victorian through her monumental photographs with their muzzy focus and dramatic use of light. Cahun presents herself in a variety of guises, adopting different personas and exploring the fluidity of identity. She dresses as both men and women when exploring the theme of identity and gender roles. A quote she said was: ‘Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.’ (Cahun, Claude (2008). Disavowals: or cancelled confessions. The MIT Press. p. 151.) This shows her link with the theme of masculinity and femininity as she does not care which identity she takes and in a few of her photographs you can see her looking more feminine than others. Cindy Sherman’s work is one of the most direct link with the male gaze in art history. her images show woman in roles hat seem disempowered. she makes the image appealing but also leaves the viewer to interpret certain things which can often be unsettling as they wonder what the real meaning is behind the image.

Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman makes her photos come to life by using herself as the main aspect. She doesn’t merely represent stereotypes, she embodies them in different ways which then draws attention to the roles she plays which captivate the viewers. Sherman is known for creating fictional characters in her photographs, often using props, makeup and clothing to transform her appearance which is seen as an exploration of identity. Sherman uses elaborate makeup and costumes to create transformations in her appearances and characters. This allows her to explore issues of identity, subjectivity and gender, while challenging the conventions of visual representation. Cindy Sherman said, ‘I never thought I was acting. When I became involved with close-ups I needed more information in the expression. I couldn’t depend on background or atmosphere. I wanted the story to come from the face. Somehow the acting just happened.’ Being a woman, she is able to share her ideas possibly from her own experience which could make the images more personal to her and important to her. Sherman satirizes the audience’s gaze on the female body and solidifies female aesthetic standards. Cindy Sherman’s work has had a major impact on contemporary photography. Many artists were influenced by her work, and her technique of deconstructing stereotypes and conventional representations is still an important reference for many artists today. Sherman’s work is often credited as a major influence for contemporary portrait photographers. One such photographer is Ryan Trecartin, who manipulates themes of identity in his videos and photography. Now 30, he began taking pictures of himself and his friends role playing and cross-dressing while still in junior high school, when he was also introduced to Sherman’s work. Sherman’s influence on other artists work was known as “The Cindy Sherman Effect”. She focusses on stereotypes to the extent where it has an impact on the community where she considers social and political issues surrounding stereotypes and woman in general such as female representation in popular culture and the performative nature of identity. In the image below, It could be interpreted by the viewer that Sherman is impersonating a stereotypical house wife from the late 1950s or early 1960s. This can be clear by the objects she adds to the image to subtly create this thought. The use of the sauce pan and soap bottle suggest to the viewer that she could be pictured in a kitchen. As well as this, she is also wearing an apron. The construction of the picture hints at a number of possible narratives and is open to a range of analyses. One analysis a viewer could make is a negative event occurring. The black and white can cause an ominous feeling or sense of tension and the tone of the image makes it feels like a dark and scary moment for the woman. she can be seen to be looking over her shoulder and the viewer can interpret that to what they like but it was usually be a negative thing she may be looking at as her eyes look concentrated on something that could be making her scared. Sherman is also seen holding her stomach which could be a usual comfort for a woman so this could further suggest something to make her uncomfortable is going on and further shows how she depicts the theme of vulnerability in her photos.

Justine Kurland
Justine Kurland focusses on themes of freedom, rebellion, and the defiance of gender expectations. Kurland’s main project was called Girl Pictures. Kurland started this project in 1997 when she was a graduate student at Yale. Kurland decided to reverse certain stereotypical representations by rather than showing girls as passive or vulnerable, she represented them as strong, confident and free-spirited. The main environment of her images are usually in wild settings like rural or urban places which would be the opposite of a typical environment where girlhood would be imagined to be placed. She first photographed a fifteen year old girl called Alyssum who was the daughter of Kurland’s partner at the time. As well as this she also photographed groups of friends who were teenage girls and she staged the images where she depicted life on communes and life in the wilderness. In her project Girl Pictures. writer Rebecca Bengal says, ‘one in six of us will never figure it out. One in six of us will never leave here. One in six of us is bound to disappear. One in six of us, she’ll surprise you’. (Bengal 2020) This quote important as its showing how every teenagers life is different and the decisions they make now will impact where they end up. She represents the stereotype of a teenager who is figuring things out at the same time as going through things. The lighting in the image below is natural and seems to be at either sunrise or sunset. The lighting sets a feeling of calmness to the viewer as it looks tranquil and relaxing. The warming tone also contributes to the idea of tranquillity. In this image, Kurland is photographing her partners daughter, Alyssum. This image shows Alyssum in the centre of the image holding onto a tree. The way she is holding onto he tree creates a sense of fear as she seems to be clinging onto it and not wanting to let go. Her being in the centre of the image I think works really well to create a deeper meaning of the image. the water next to her seems to be travelling one way on the left of the image whereas the direction of the headlights of the cars suggest the road travel the opposite way. as well as that, there’s a pathway on the grass which is also creating a direction. Alyssum’s body faces the road whereas she’s looking over her shoulder at the water which creates the idea that she doesn’t know what direction to go in or what path to take and seems to be lost. This links to stereotypes of young people as its showing the confusion of the mind and having the ability to make decisions for yourself but still not knowing which direction to go. Teenagers could relate to this image as they may also not know what to do or where to go as they enter the part of their life where their decisions have a major impact on their futures.

Conclusion

Both Cindy Sherman ands Justine Kurland are two of the most important photographers when it comes to themes such as identity, gender and roles in society. They have different techniques such as Sherman taking her images as self portraits which have been constructed an staged way. Whereas Kurland takes her images of other individuals and not herself in open naturalistic aesthetics where the environment is a rural wide-space. Though they have differences, their main themes are femininity, gender roles and identity. Both photographers attempt to present themselves in their images when focussing on the theme of identity however they do this in slightly different ways. Sherman uses her identity to show her opinions on the stereotypical female roles through using herself. She embodies them in different ways which then draws attention to the roles she plays and ultimately captivates the viewers. She is able to transform her appearance which is seen as an exploration of identity. Kurland shows her opinions and thoughts by using other people to reflect herself onto them. In her work Girl Pictures she depicts young women in wilderness settings and shows the ongoing theme of freedom and rebellion where she often places the individuals (herself) in natural environments in the wild. Another difference is how they explore identity in different ways. Sherman shows the stereotypical female societal roles in her images where she sticks to showing how woman are viewed where they are presented as disempowered and link largely with the male gaze. Whereas Kurland shows the female identity in opposite ways by depicting girls rebelling and being out in fields and rural areas where hey seem to be empowered rather than disempowered which would usually not be the typical image of a female. Both artists don’t just use their images to represent themselves, they represent everyone who can relate. Sherman represents every woman and Kurland represents most teenage girls. Though the artists approaches to this theme differ, they both manage to challenge the reality of being a woman. With the work I have produced, I would say it is more similar to Kurland’s work than Sherman’s. In one of my photoshoots, it focussed on group of my friends who were all girls. This is already a similarity between Kurland’s work and she also takes images of groups of girls. The settings of hers and my work could be seen as fairly similar as I also used places such as fields to take my photographs and got the subjects of the images to engage in activities such as tree climbing. In terms of Cindy Sherman, as a large majority of my images surround females I am able to compare mine to hers as a similarity. My photographs are images of others which links with Kurland’s work rather than Sherman’s as she tends to do self-portraits instead. I also believe that, like Kurland, my images would be seen as mirrors as I am reflecting my life through the use of my friends. in comparison to this idea, some of my other photoshoots could be seen as windows as I photograph the subject engaging in activities that is normalised for them (for example dancing) and so this would be a window as its taking a look into someone else’s normal activity that I don’t relate to. One of the photoshoots that focuses on one of my friends dancing links to Cindy Sherman and the idea of female stereotypes as dancing could be considered a female stereotypical sport (especially in the past).

Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced

347, 315, 576, 502, 332

(Male vs female gaze, representation of women in art, feminism, staging of photographs or tableaux takes it origin from Pictorialism. Examples of historical female photographers: Julia Margaret-Cameron, Claude Cahun

Read some of the key texts in bibliography below here and reference them in the paragraph here)

Bibliography

Feminist theory
van Zoomen, L. (2019). ‘Feminist Theory’ in Dixon, M. Media Theory for A-Level Students. London: Routledge.

Justine Kurland

Bengal, R. (2020) ‘The Jeremys’ in Girl Pictures. New York: Aperture.

Cahun, Claude (2008). Disavowals: or cancelled confessions. The MIT Press. p. 151.