Cindy Sherman

Born in 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Sherman studied painting at Buffalo State College, where she soon abandoned the brush for the camera, recognizing the potential of photography as a medium of artistic expression and becoming one of the most influential contemporary artists. Her artistic exploration revolves around themes and issues related to identity and the manipulation of the female image, such as the representation of women's social and cultural roles and the relationship between the real subject and its depiction.

One of the distinguishing features of Sherman’s work is her ability to be both subject and object of her art. Although she is the only person portrayed in her photographs, they are not traditional self-portraits. Sherman uses herself in an ironic and caricatural manner as a canvas onto which she projects a myriad of characters to explore stereotypes and cultural shifts in society. Her most famous series, Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980), consists of 69 black-and-white photographs in which the artist portrays various stereotypical female characters taken from films of the 1950s and 1960s, conceived as mere objects of the male gaze. These images explore and deconstruct gender roles and the voyeuristic construct of female representations of the time. Thus, the Untitled series also becomes a parody of the mannerisms of codified feminine beauty upheld in fashion advertising, with women appearing as mannequins, little more than bodies on which to drape designer clothes.

In addition to photography, Sherman has explored video and cinema, but her ability to transform and play with identity through the lens remains at the heart of her artistic contribution. Cindy Sherman currently lives and works in New York, continually challenging and reinventing notions of identity, image, and representation, solidifying her position as one of the most significant voices in contemporary art.

Cindy Sherman’s works have been exhibited in major museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Tate Modern in London. In 2000, a major exhibition was held at the MCA in Chicago and subsequently at MoCA in Los Angeles. More recently, Sherman’s photographs were the focus of a retrospective organized in 2020 by the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which showcased 170 works created between 1975 and 2020, covering nearly fifty years of her career. Sherman has received numerous awards and honors, including the Hasselblad Award in 1999 and the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2019.