Cindy Sherman - Fine Art Photography

Self portraits

Cindy Sherman is one of the most highly respected and widely known artists to emerge in the last twenty years. She was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey in 1954 and lives and works today in New York City.

Cindy Sherman is a photographer, but not in the traditional sense of the word. Not only is she the person behind the lens of the camera, but she also puts herself in front of the lens, as the model and subject of her photographs. Although she photographs herself, however, her images are not self-portraits. The artist wears masks, costumes, and uses mannequin parts and props to create different identities. In her words, she is “trying to make other people recognize something of themselves rather than me.” As a result, her work deftly investigates how people, and how women in particular, create their own self-image. Copyright Williams College Museum of Art wcma@williams.edu