What struck me most about Cindy Sherman’s work was her
sensitivity to the idea that being a woman holds certain expectations, not only
that a woman is to cook and clean, but that she is stereotyped as a vulnerable
creature that is subject to violence and crime. While these notions are
frustrating and even quite upsetting to many modern women today, I believe
Sherman does an excellent job in photographing this stereotype. As touched on
by Jamie Lee Curtis, Sherman (who is both photographer and model of her own
work) captures what is the equivalent to an entire movie in a single frame. In
that one shot we understand the character, what she has endured, how she feels,
and what is yet to occur. I believe this in conjunction with her work from when
she moved to Brooklyn perfectly describes headlines and photographs that we see
in the news. Violence and crime has become so commonplace and the stories that
accompany them, that a single photo is sufficient enough for our society to
understand what has happened. In contrast to photography in the news, which I
believe to be largely objective, Sherman’s work is more subjective and
situational, as is typical of Postmodernism photography. Approaching her work
from this mindset allows us to view her work from a postmodernist perspective,
to understand that her work is not meant to be objective or serve as a picture
of reality. Rather, it is more subjective and situational by encouraging each
person to find his or her own interpretation of the story behind the
photograph.
