Cindy Sherman is an influential American photographer who is best known for her self-portraits that explore identity and representation in the realm of popular media. For the most part, Sherman’s works are self-portraits of different roles that she took on. Typically, Sherman worked on these photos alone, meaning that she served as the director, photographer, model, makeup artist, hairstylist, and costume designer.

Cindy Sherman is best known for her early Untitled Film Stills in the late seventies and early eighties. In this series, she portrayed many common female archetypes seen in films. Sherman took heavy inspiration from the promotional materials in Hollywood and European B-films from the 40s and 50s. Sherman wanted to create ambiguous pieces that were mass-produced and quickly forgotten, hence the lack of titles. Although Sherman never intended to, she captured the female stereotypes and formulas widespread in popular media. For instance, in Untitled Film Still #21, the viewer can quickly paint a narrative of the woman. The photo only depicts a young woman dressed in a professional suit in front of city buildings. However, it is a recurring female hero seen in the film industry. The “city girl” lands a new job in the big city.

Soon after, Sherman created the Centerfolds series. As the name suggests, she intended these pieces to be layouts in men’s erotic magazines. Throughout these color photographs, Sherman depicts young women in private and melancholy moments, ranging from a wide array of emotions. She wanted to confront the male audience with something unexpected. Furthermore, the audience should believe they wrongfully violated and invaded these spaces. She intended to make people feel uncomfortable. It is interesting to note that Artforum commissioned Sherman to create these images, but in the end, the editor found them to be too controversial and pulled them from being published.

More recently, Sherman created another set of photos called Project Twirl for Harper’s Bazaar magazine. They satirically addressed the ridiculousness of fashion influencer culture on social media. Throughout these photos, Sherman created women that wore expensive, over-the-top outfits. They posed and twirled for the cameras that followed them around. Sherman had been critical of this culture, suggesting that it was absurd for people to post “real-life” images to social media that they staged with photographers and equipment.

It is with no doubt that Cindy Sherman’s work continues to be influential today, whether they address female representation in media or the more contemporary identities that have arisen.