Kaleidoscope

Cindy Sherman is an American artist who is best known for her photographic self portraits. Her black and white photographs are very simple and incredibly effective, using herself as the model, dressing up and changing her appearance so she was nearly unrecognisable.

The Bus Riders series was literally what it said it was, she created herself in the image of people she saw riding the bus everyday. I like her work because although it doesn’t reflect popular culture, it does mirror everyday life in such a direct way that it makes the ordinary look extraordinary. With an amazingly simple method of production, she creates work that has an immediate impact on the viewer that can resonate with anyone.

Sherman’s work is considered feminist and one of her series of images, Society Pictures 2008, in particular, was supposed to address the obsession with female youth and beauty in American society. Sherman herself doesn’t see herself as a feminist or see her work as it either but said “The work is what it is and hopefully it’s seen as feminist work, or feminist-advised work, but I’m not going to go around espousing theoretical bullshit about feminist stuff.” Her straight up approach and no nonsense talk reminds me a bit of my own opinions and viewpoints and also the fact that some of my work has been accidentally feminist.