Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman (b. 1954, New Jersey) is a photographic artist known for her diverse range of self-portrait images. She is noted as an artist of The Pictures Generation (1974 – 1984), a group of artists whose work critiques the nature of representation through references to mass media.

Cindy’s work frequently interrogates the construction of contemporary identity, drawing on a range of visual media to examine the role of women in the ‘cultural imagination’; her breakthrough work Complete Untitled Film Stills (1977 – 1980), a series of seventy black-and-white photographs of herself in stereotypical feminine roles from 1950s and 60s film, television and advertising, achieved critical acclaim and established the stylistic direction of her future work. Cindy continues to appear as the subject of her images, altering her appearance with wigs, costumes, makeup, prosthetics and props. Her work emphasises how identity, and its manipulation, embraces the mythic, uncanny, and carnivalesque.

By Katherine Riley