Cindy Sherman
Year, Birthplace 1954, United States
Cindy Sherman was born in a suburb of New York City. She decided to become an artist and attended Buffalo State College, where she met Robert Longo. They founded Hallwalls, an independent exhibition space. In 1977 she began working as a model in the series Untitled Film Stills, in which she played a B-movie actress, also playing all the other roles herself. Untitled No. 37 belongs to the Berardo Collection. In the subsequent series of Untitled numbered photographs, she continued her project of depersonalization. She later created the Disasters and Fairy Tales series, and finally History Portraits. In 1992 Cindy Sherman began the Sex Pictures, in which she used dolls and bodies made from plastic material. In 1997 she directed the film Office Killer, starring Jeanne Tripplehorn. Recently, Cindy Sherman has begun working as a model once again. Judith Williamson pointed out the subtlety of Cindy Sherman’s work: ‘Obviously, the dialectic between Sherman as performer and photographer is important; after all, she does choose to present herself (in disguise) in her pictures. The identities she acts may be passive and fearful. But look what she does with them, what she makes: she is in control.’ J-FC