Self-Portrait Final Project

Untitled Film Still #56

Untitled Film Still #414

Perspective

Perspective

Perspective

My final project, named "Perspective," is inspired by Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Still #56 and Untitled Film Still #414. Cindy Sherman is an artist who alters her image in different forms, and then photographs herself, to tell the audience a story. Each of her characters is different, and portrays a unique story to the audience, each of which can be interpreted in different ways depending on the person seeing the images. Untitled Film Still #56 is one of the photographs that sparks the most curiosity regarding her thoughts and emotions when taking them. Many people observe this photograph and question whether she was thinking about a man, and whether she was looking into a mirror because she wonders whether the male species would approve of her current looks. Therefore, many people assume that Cindy has taken this photograph to pose for the male gaze. Others, however, wonder whether she was disappointed, curious, or troubled, and whether these emotions are caused by someone else in the story that cannot be seen within the picture frame. With this photograph, I believe there are multiple interpretations, each individual to the person viewing her photograph. The other photograph I was inspired by—Untitled Film Still #414—is an image of her with dramatic makeup including dark eyes, bright pink cheeks, and black lipstick. For my final project, I combined these two images and added my own personal touch, to turn it into a 3-dimensional sculpture. 

One of the reasons I chose Cindy Sherman as my inspiration for my final project is her ability to express herself through photographs. It is fascinating to me how, through photographs, humans are capable of manipulating themselves to suit society’s current preferences, mask one’s insecurities, or simply to spread creativity and uniqueness. Most importantly, humans today are able to portray the version of themselves they choose. In the Cindy Sherman Effect article, Cindy Shermans says “I think it has made me realize that we’ve all chosen who we are in terms of how we want the world to see us” (Hoban 2012). Cindy Sherman’s ability to transform herself into several different characters, each of which tells a unique story to the audience, does not signify that the characters are posing to satisfy the audience, however. In The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman, the author states, “They are some of the first pure protagonists in Sherman’s work: These women are not metaphors, they are not waiting to be represented, rescued or destroyed” (Sehgal 2018). Like Cindy Sherman’s characters, I hope to show that women have their own stories and their own experiences, and that regardless of age, they can portray themselves in ways that are completely against society’s set regulations, because society does not have the authority nor the right to decide whether women have their own stories and which can be shown to the public. Specifically, I want to demonstrate that women’s identities are not contingent on others’ beliefs, the male gaze, or patriarchal limitations.

When creating my project, I began by painting a styrofoam head with acrylic paint to look like the makeup worn by Cindy Sherman in her Untitled Film Still #414. I then utilized red yarn, which I glued to the styrofoam head in order to give my sculpture hair. Afterwards, I attached a mirror to five sticks for stability, and pasted it to a box, where I attached the foam head at an angle. I attached the mirror and the head at a specific angle, so that viewers can look at the sculpture from the front and see the full face, but also from behind to see her reflection in the mirror. This feature was important for me to implement because it demonstrates how she (the sculpture) is the main character of the story I am portraying. I am portraying the character as she looks at herself into the mirror, with makeup that society does not approve of. Whether she did this makeup purposefully with the intent to contradict societal standards, or if she did it simply because she enjoyed this makeup, is up to interpretation and can vary depending on the viewers themselves. I mostly, however, want to portray her looking at a mirror, emphasizing that she may be looking at her self with pride and not indignation at her inability or lack of desire to "fit in."

The main difference between my first self portraits and this final one is that I was able to spend a large amount of time sculpting my project and manipulating it to portray exactly what I hoped to. Although I may have been able to digitally edit the photographs from previous self-portraits, I truly pushed myself out of my comfort zone to create something unique and more intricate than my previous self-portraits. Learning about Cindy Sherman and her fight against—or disregard of—the male gaze and patriarchal limitations on women's looks and actions helped me create this project because I had a clear idea of what I wanted viewers to gain when looking at my project. The spectacle and media influences identity and self presentation because it adds, or helps spread, the societal limitations women are forced to adhere to. Cindy Sherman, however, portrayed various characters, none of which depended on another character for support. In The Cindy Sherman Effect, the author states,"We live in the era of YouTube fame and reality-TV shows and makeovers, where you can be anything you want to be any minute of the day, and artists are responding to that” (Hoban 2012). The spectacle and media helps promote specific images of women society wants women to adhere to. However, I hope to demonstrate that women truly are the protagonists of their own lives, and can portray any portion or version of themselves to the world whichever way they choose. Therefore, women have the ability to participate in the spectacle and portray themselves in the media as they see fit. I named my final project "Perspective" because anyone who sees my final project may interpret the meaning differently depending on their own perspective on life, the male gaze, patriarchy, and the spectacle. My final project may have millions of different interpretations because there are millions of individual perspectives around the world.

Citations:

Hoban, Phoebe. “The Cindy Sherman Effect.” ARTnews.com, ARTnews, 18 Nov. 2019, https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/the-cindy-sherman-effect-505/. 

Sehgal, Parul. “The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman's Instagram Selfies.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Oct. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/05/magazine/instagram-cindy-sherman-ugly-beauty.html.