Week 3 photographer

Cindy Sherman

Sherman's work is central in the era of consumerism and image proliferation at the close of the 20th century. When researching her work it was mentioned that towards the end of the 1970s, Sherman explored a wide range of common female social roles or personas. Her aim was to question the seductive and often oppressive influence of mass media over our individual and collective identities. Sherman attracted her audience's attention to the machinery and makeup that embodied her self-portraits- which were circulating in a "plugged in" culture. Her self portraits featured elements of sexual desire, domination and the fashioning of self identity.

Sherman used her camera and the everyday cinema tools such as makeup, costumes and stage scenery in order to express the common illusions of the media. Her images try to capture concepts of self confidence, entertainment and sexual adventure, however these images further unravel how self identity is often an unstable compromise between social dictates and personal intention.

While some critics think Sherman's work is stereotypical to the male gaze and continues to reapply the objectification of women, others understand Sherman's approach as a critically ironic parody of female stereotypes. Meanwhile, some critics recognise both aspects of her work, knowing that Sherman has to take on the stereotypical roles in order to parodise their pervasiveness in society.

Sherman specifically implies that these images are for a female viewership and this in turn suggests that the female viewers are able to negotiate their own desire and identification in relation to these images.

Sherman's theme of parodising female objectification make me think a lot about my current research. Specifically, this makes me think about the mass media and the pressures to conform or change your perception of yourself to conform to media's ways. Going forward, I do not think that i will focus my work specifically on women but a society as a whole. When looking at the digital world, anyone from any background can over exaggerate their looks or way of life to conform to mass media. Social media has become an intense form of communication and technology has allowed us to alter our bodies to make ourselves look better in our own view. Sherman's work exposes the crude and over exaggerated expectations of women and I think this is a concept I would like to look at throughout the term.