Cindy Sherman is a photographer that has been exploring different ways to portray a people in portrait series. What I find interesting with Cindy is her subject matter. She puts herself in each of the photographs, but in order to disguise herself she adds an immense amount of makeup. She also takes extremes of the characters she is portraying, for instance a rich Beverly Hills woman has very dark unhealthy skin with bleached white teeth and blonde hair. Of course this is not how all women from Beverly Hills looks like, but she was exploring different ways to portray these woman. Another point that I find interesting is her earlier work, her film shot series. These photographs were taken in a very deliberate mass produced fashion, a way that does not signify anything at all to the “free art” kind of movement. One last particular fact I found interesting was her decision to put these photographs on display in a extremely large way. She said the reason why is due to the fact that a lot of male artists, not necessarily big or popular or well known artists, always have a giant piece on a wall. She said to the extent that such ego was in these male artists that she said why can’t I as a woman also have a big ego and in return a big portrait?
Here is an example of her “mass produced film series”
Here is an example of her more recent styles, her portraying a southern lady
