100 PHOTOGRAPHS 109
UNTITLED FILM STILL #21 by Cindy Sherman
Since she burst onto the art scene in the late 1970s, Cindy
Sherman the person has always been obscured by Cindy
Sherman the subject. Through inventive, deliberately con-
fusing self-portraits taken in familiar but artificial circum-
stances, Sherman introduced photography as postmodern
performance art. From her Untitled Film Stills series, #21
(“City Girl”) calls to mind a frame from a B movie or an
opening scene from a long-since-canceled television show.
Yet the images are entirely Sherman’s creations, placing
the viewer in the role of unwitting voyeur. Rather than cap-
ture real life in the click of a shutter, Sherman uses photog-
raphy as an artistic tool to deceive and captivate. Her im-
ages have become some of the most valuable photographs
ever produced. By manipulating viewers and recasting her
own identity, Sherman carved out a new place for photog-
raphy in fine art. And she showed that even photography
allows people to be something they’re not.