�Ǹ�Թ�

Since the 1970s, Cindy Sherman has used photography to probe the construction of identity and femininity. Sherman studied painting at Buffalo State University in New York, but soon abandoned painting to move into photography. Shortly after moving to New York in 1976, Sherman began to photograph herself in various settings to produce her ‘Untitled Film Stills’ (1977-80). The art historian Judith Williamson has written about the significance of Sherman using her own body, where femininity and the image of woman is ‘something acted on,’ and that ‘the fact that it is Cindy Sherman performing each time is precisely what undermines the idea that any one image is “her” [...] each of which is meant to be a different woman (using Cachet); whereas what Sherman shows is that anyone can “be” all of them, and none.’ The ‘Untitled Film Stills’ have become emblematic of conversations around feminism, postmodernism, and representation that began in the 1970s and continue today. Sherman has played with different identities throughout her practice, unpacking a range of stereotypes and characters. The history portraits from 1981 are a noteworthy example of Sherman using theatrical effects to appropriate images from art history catalogues. The artificiality of these fabrications is highlighted in her deliberate revealing of her efforts: often her wigs are slipping off, her prosthetics are peeling away, and her makeup is poorly blended. Sherman underlines the way that these identities can be as easily unraveled as they are constructed.