Faking Theatricality: Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Stills

Untitled Film Stills by Cindy Sherman is a collection of 70 black-and-white photos taken over a three-year period in which the artist dressed as several stereotyped female movie characters, including an ingénue, a working girl, a vamp, and a lonely housewife. The printed photos emulate in format, scale, and quality the frequently produced "stills" used to promote movies. The scenarios were set to mirror scenes from 1950s and 1960s Hollywood, film noir, B movies, and European art-house films. By taking pictures of herself in these settings, Sherman contributes to the conversation around gender stereotypes.

Uncertainty is crucial to Sherman. Instead of attempting to depict precise or instantly recognised scenarios, she left the scenery, the people' body language, and their expressions free to interpretation. Untitled Film Stills has been described as ‘disguise and theatricality, mystery and voyeurism, melancholy and vulnerability’ (Van de Walle, 2017)

The sceneries depict concepts that everyone is familiar with, making the visuals seem almost if they have been seen before. This work derives from Sherman's deft imitation of the lighting techniques and cinematic viewpoints in sequences from television shows or movies. In addition to being a photographer, she also serves as a stylist, set designer, hairdresser, and make-up artist, making her both an artist and a subject.

“I suppose unconsciously, or semiconsciously at best, I was wrestling with some sort of turmoil of my own about understanding women. The characters aren’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 are acting. There are so many levels of artifice. I like that whole jumble of ambiguity.” Cindy Sherman (Public Delivery, 2021)

Reflection + Inspiration

Looking at Cindy Sherman’s collaboration with CDG as a reference for the inclusion of fashion in my project as a medium to build characters and show their personalities through clothes was directly linked to her previous work, her Untitled Film Stills. This also opened my mind as to what the options are to build characters and showcase their personalities. The fact that the inspiration for this were the films and movie industry is crucial to the way the work was developed and since films are my biggest source of inspiration for this project, this body of work is closely linked to what I aim to produce.

Research (Week 23)

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