Untitled – 1985
Cindy Sherman
1985
This particular piece is a diptych, 2 photos framed side by side as part of a whole. In the left photo, Sherman is hunched over a multiple framed pictures of different people, as well as a statue of two birds. Her nose is bloodied, and she almost has a rabid-like expression on her face as a she looks at the viewer. On the right, Sherman is slouched on a chair, arms crossed, looking at something in the room, with an unsettling smile on her face as she stares. Her hair is dark, unlike the first photo, where she has blonde hair. The wallpaper behind her is of a stork.
There seems to be a crossing over of the set piece between the two photos, almost as if they are the same scene but split in two. Maybe the women are staring at each other.
A common theme in Sherman’s works is that while she often models for her photos, they usually aren’t self-portraits. This photo, I feel, is no exception. Here, there is some sort of narrative that she is trying to convey through both photos, whereby having unsettling depictions of herself, she’s left me wondering what could happen between the two pictures.