Cindy Sherman is incredibly famous for her series 'Untitled Film Stills'; a series that is compiled of sixty nine images taken between 1977 and 1980.
Within these images, Sherman takes influence from 50's and 60's film culture to portray herself in these images. She dresses and poses as characters from these movies, and creates the scene to look cinematic and as if it could have been a screenshot (which was of course not invented at this time) or a bit of film taken from a movie roll from an actual Hollywood movie.
"The scenes were narratives "without involving other people, just suggesting them outside the frame," she wrote in the preface to her book The Complete Untitled Film Stills." - (Smithonian.com)
When discussing what the work is truly about, I think it's best to let Sherman speak for herself. The themes are so very close to what I have been wanting to portray in my own work, and I feel that we connect a lot on this topic.
"I suppose unconsciously, or semi-consciously at best, I was wrestling with some sort of turmoil of my own about understanding women. The characters weren't dummies; they weren't just airhead actresses. They were women struggling with something but I didn't know what. The clothes make them seem a certain way, but then you look at their expression, however slight it may be, and wonder if maybe "they" are not what the clothes are communicating. I wasn't working with a raised "awareness," but I definitely felt that the characters are questioning something-perhaps being forced into a certain role. At the same time, those roles are in film: the women aren't being lifelike, they're acting. There are so many levels of artifice. I like that whole jumble of ambiguity". -Cindy Sherman from her book 'The Complete Untitled Film Stills.'
It's widely debated whether these film stills are truly self portraits. While of course she is taking images of her own body, is she defined by her body? Because these are characters she's made up from stereotypes in film, are they self portraits? As Campany (2008) put it; 'Does Sherman pose or act, or act as if posing, or pose as if acting? Does she pose for the camera or is she posed by it?' Sherman's presence in the frame is confusing, however I personally see them as women as a unity. Each frame represents a different life, a different personality and she is embracing this and letting the new identity take over. The combination of 69 different people allows her to connect with all these different types of woman and help her understand them.
She talks about the levels of artifice and that's what interests me most. How real an image is, the ambiguity of the roles she takes on and her character's feelings.
Campany (2008) also noted that "After a successful take film actors are often asked to do things 'once more for stills', They convert their acting into into posing for a photographer" so it's also possible that that's what Sherman was doing; following the conventions of actual film by creating these film stills.
"I didn’t want to title the photographs because it would spoil the ambiguity, so when Metro Pictures opened (started by Helene and her childhood friend Janelle Reiring), in 1980, the gallery assigned numbers. The numbering basically went by year, but then it got mixed up as it became totally arbitrary, applied purely for purposes of identification." - Cindy Sherman
The lack of name allows for the images to remain mysterious, giving us as the audience no clue as to the context of the image. The context only lives on within her, for us as the audience we must create our own that we feel fits the image she presents to us.
"At first I wanted to do a group of imaginary stills all from the same actress’s career, so in those first six photographs the hair doesn’t change all that much—I think I made her a blond because that seemed very actressy and perhaps because I still had brown hair. I really didn’t know what I was doing at the time, I was playing. I tried to make her look older in some, more of an ingenue in others, and older-trying-hard-to-look-younger in others. I didn’t think about what each movie was about, I focused on the different ages and looks of the same character."
Sherman originally only wanted to portray one character and only after the 6th image moved on to more, and I feel that I would also like to have more than one character. While each of them will represent me, I imagine if they were physical beings they'd look oh so different from each other but with my face. After all, that is me. But their essences would change their appearance so different from the last.
I feel that my work will relate to this series a lot, because I will be creating characters that represent me, or parts of me, and dressing them up until they're no longer me. I aim to have the same outsider perspective that Sherman gives an audience - not giving people too much to go off in terms of context.
While this is more personal to me than Untitled Film Stills perhaps was to Sherman, I feel that the two series will have a strong link. The core is about presentations, emotions and the unknown.
I believe Sherman's work will be incredibly influential to my future work. The similar messages we both share will help inspire me and give me focus. While stylistically nothing alike, dressing up as characters to portray your own emotions (with Sherman it was confusion and understanding) and mental status gives the two series' a strong connection.
Within these images, Sherman takes influence from 50's and 60's film culture to portray herself in these images. She dresses and poses as characters from these movies, and creates the scene to look cinematic and as if it could have been a screenshot (which was of course not invented at this time) or a bit of film taken from a movie roll from an actual Hollywood movie.
"The scenes were narratives "without involving other people, just suggesting them outside the frame," she wrote in the preface to her book The Complete Untitled Film Stills." - (Smithonian.com)
When discussing what the work is truly about, I think it's best to let Sherman speak for herself. The themes are so very close to what I have been wanting to portray in my own work, and I feel that we connect a lot on this topic.
"I suppose unconsciously, or semi-consciously at best, I was wrestling with some sort of turmoil of my own about understanding women. The characters weren't dummies; they weren't just airhead actresses. They were women struggling with something but I didn't know what. The clothes make them seem a certain way, but then you look at their expression, however slight it may be, and wonder if maybe "they" are not what the clothes are communicating. I wasn't working with a raised "awareness," but I definitely felt that the characters are questioning something-perhaps being forced into a certain role. At the same time, those roles are in film: the women aren't being lifelike, they're acting. There are so many levels of artifice. I like that whole jumble of ambiguity". -Cindy Sherman from her book 'The Complete Untitled Film Stills.'
It's widely debated whether these film stills are truly self portraits. While of course she is taking images of her own body, is she defined by her body? Because these are characters she's made up from stereotypes in film, are they self portraits? As Campany (2008) put it; 'Does Sherman pose or act, or act as if posing, or pose as if acting? Does she pose for the camera or is she posed by it?' Sherman's presence in the frame is confusing, however I personally see them as women as a unity. Each frame represents a different life, a different personality and she is embracing this and letting the new identity take over. The combination of 69 different people allows her to connect with all these different types of woman and help her understand them.
She talks about the levels of artifice and that's what interests me most. How real an image is, the ambiguity of the roles she takes on and her character's feelings.
Campany (2008) also noted that "After a successful take film actors are often asked to do things 'once more for stills', They convert their acting into into posing for a photographer" so it's also possible that that's what Sherman was doing; following the conventions of actual film by creating these film stills.
The lack of name allows for the images to remain mysterious, giving us as the audience no clue as to the context of the image. The context only lives on within her, for us as the audience we must create our own that we feel fits the image she presents to us.
"At first I wanted to do a group of imaginary stills all from the same actress’s career, so in those first six photographs the hair doesn’t change all that much—I think I made her a blond because that seemed very actressy and perhaps because I still had brown hair. I really didn’t know what I was doing at the time, I was playing. I tried to make her look older in some, more of an ingenue in others, and older-trying-hard-to-look-younger in others. I didn’t think about what each movie was about, I focused on the different ages and looks of the same character."
Sherman originally only wanted to portray one character and only after the 6th image moved on to more, and I feel that I would also like to have more than one character. While each of them will represent me, I imagine if they were physical beings they'd look oh so different from each other but with my face. After all, that is me. But their essences would change their appearance so different from the last.
I feel that my work will relate to this series a lot, because I will be creating characters that represent me, or parts of me, and dressing them up until they're no longer me. I aim to have the same outsider perspective that Sherman gives an audience - not giving people too much to go off in terms of context.
While this is more personal to me than Untitled Film Stills perhaps was to Sherman, I feel that the two series will have a strong link. The core is about presentations, emotions and the unknown.
I believe Sherman's work will be incredibly influential to my future work. The similar messages we both share will help inspire me and give me focus. While stylistically nothing alike, dressing up as characters to portray your own emotions (with Sherman it was confusion and understanding) and mental status gives the two series' a strong connection.
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