Cindy Sherman

Emerging alongside the ‘Pictures Generation’, Sherman used photography to expose how the notion of ‘femininity’ is a mere set of codes and signs conveyed to society through images of women, with her work challenging the male gaze in art and society and ultimately advancing the feminist theory that ‘femininity’ is not a quality naturally inherent in or essential to women. 

By being the only model to appear in her images, she becomes both observer and observed, showing that femininity is a performance and can be turned on and off, making her work the perfect example of Postmodernist and feminist photographic practice.

Through her images, she constructs a unique way of visualising femininity that confronts some of the issues raised by feminist theorists’ regarding images of women: “who is being represented in the image? By whom is this ‘feminine’ being constructed?” and, most significantly, for whom is this ‘femininity’ being performed for?

Throughout her career spanning four decades, Sherman has continued to transform herself in her images, displaying the diversity of human types and stereotypes and challenging viewers to think about the cultural codes we are trained to look for.