Biographies - Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is an American born photographer and is recognised as an influentual contributer to contemporary art. She presents the idea of identity within her photography and is often the subject of her own work. However she undertakes a different persona for each piece, providing an ongoing array of characters with each photo reaching her audience in a different way. By creating these individuals with which to capture with her camera she provokes a different reaction each time, her work can be amusing, disturbing and distasteful among other things.

Sherman puts a great deal of herself into her work. Although she introduces different personas, the entire production of her photography is completed by her. The characters she makes are drawn from her own ideas and experiences, and she contributes multiple roles to the production of them. She is the photographer, makeup artist, stylist, hairdresser and model.

I find it interesting that one person can take on so many different identities, it is strange to think that there are a thousand ways we could present ourselves, yet we often stick to one style, that is core to our own individuality. I feel Sherman's work relates to how as human beings we judge on appearances. With each photograph the audience will have a different reaction to what they think that person would be like based on the way they look and dress. Yet it is the same woman, with the same personality and identity.

Here is an example of how different Sherman can make herself look using clothes, makeup and wigs.

(Sherman C, 2003, Untitled #413, accessed 23 April 2012)
(Sherman C, 1978, Untitled Film Still #13, accessed 23 April 2012,
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman)