Untitled Film Still #39 1979

Curator: This gelatin-silver print is "Untitled Film Still #39" by Cindy Sherman, created in 1979. Editor: Immediately, I notice the almost palpable grain of the silver print. The high contrast monochrome really heightens the feeling of unease and vulnerability that the subject exudes. Curator: It’s one of a series of works in which Sherman photographs herself in stereotypical female roles drawn from film and television. They examine the cultural construction of identity, and the way the media shapes our perception of women. Sherman acts as photographer, subject, costume designer, and makeup artist. Editor: Exactly. What's so interesting is her singular control over the production. Think about the labor involved – choosing the mise-en-scène of this claustrophobic bathroom, sourcing those mass-produced undergarments, adopting a very particular stance. She's highlighting how even seemingly intimate moments are essentially manufactured, designed to be consumed. Curator: The genius lies in her complete ambiguity. It’s an open question that encourages us to project our own readings. There are some interesting readings about the male gaze here, how our perception has been formulated in very specific and traditional frameworks. Editor: The cheap materials – a distinctly suburban bathroom, the kind of mass-produced underthings found in any department store – really cement this idea that these stereotypes are, indeed, widely consumed, made accessible and desirable on a very ordinary, banal level. There is nothing glamorous in the materials, just in our perception. Curator: In hindsight, the "Untitled Film Still" series became hugely influential in the Postmodern movement for its exploration of identity, representation, and the role of the artist in contemporary culture. The very idea that the photograph remains untitled underscores this intention. Editor: It prompts a reassessment of photography as an art form too, because it emphasizes the crafted image and the photographer's manipulative role. In thinking of all the apparatus used and discarded during the construction, Sherman underlines how art is truly inseparable from the realities of its production. Curator: A real turning point in questioning the societal constructs embedded in visual media. Editor: An unraveling that begins with very tangible materials and processes.