Cindy Sherman

Kyla and myself went along to Sprueth Magers gallery to see the new Cindy Sherman exhibition and to discuss how her work is relevant to our own practice. The images are huge and printed onto wallpaper (well actually it is a very fine sticky backed fabric but looks like wallpaper), the exhibit is specifically tailor made to the space. I think its an interesting move into installation and away from the print in frame. There's a real power in the installation, the size and expressivness(?) of each character, but still a comfortable feeling That it is still Sherman as subject, photographer and masquerades. This time she is using digital manipulation instead of makeup or actual masks which creates a more subtle disturbance in the character of her face. I found the characters confrontational yet vulnerable, although some where grouped together they each had an aloneness (?).
The ways in which it relates to my practice is her questioning of identity and gender, specifically female identity. I am also looking at ways of masking, hiding, obscuring identity, so a form of masquarade.
I am questioning the objectification of woman, I'm questioning 'can a woman be objectified if her 'true' identity is hidden? If her face is hidden, her expression, her eyes, does this make her less appealing due to the fact that I see the face as the most expressive and the place that will show her passivity that is so desirable in these images that we see so much in contemporary visual culture?
Having worked as a stylist in the fashion industry for many years I am used to these images, used to creating them to please the advertising teams and to appeal to the viewer so it's interesting to re examine them from a different perspective and question them.