An artist that really influenced me when I was an undergrad was Cindy Sherman. Specifically the Untitled Film Series. This body of work from the late seventies and early eighties really spoke to me as a young feminist. She portrays characters from every walk of life: a working girl in the big city, a doe eyed wife doing the dishes, a blonde bombshell gazing at her reflection or walking down a dark city street.
The way she tried on roles and explored recognizable archetypes really spoke to the young woman that I was.
Newly exposed to feminism, philosophy and sociology this body of work illustrated many of the concepts I was struggling with as an artist and as a human.
Many of the characters she tries on are challenging to gaze upon: black eyes, hesitant glances and unsafe surroundings add an air of danger and mystery to the series.
Although some of these darker self portraits are not appealing to me now, the series as a whole is one that inspired many of my early projects.
I'll look at some of her later work in a future blog post.