Untitled Film Still #2 1977

Editor: Here we have Cindy Sherman's "Untitled Film Still #2" from 1977, a gelatin silver print. There’s a sense of voyeurism, catching a woman in what feels like a private moment. But it also feels staged, deliberately posed. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Staged is the key, isn’t it? Cindy always tickles my funny bone with this knowing wink, as if to say, “You think this is a candid shot? Think again, darling!” The photograph appears like a random snippet of an Italian neorealist film—is she waiting for a lover, escaping the mob, or just freshening up for her adoring public? But what I find truly genius is how Sherman appropriates, like a magpie, the *idea* of a still. She’s playing with our cultural expectations, remixing these iconic visual cues. Doesn't it make you question the authenticity we assign to images, and our collective narrative around "woman" in cinema? Editor: Absolutely. It is like she is dissecting a trope, playing a role of sorts... So, there isn’t an actual film? Curator: That is exactly it! No film exists, and that’s the deliciously wicked point. Sherman isn’t documenting reality; she’s constructing it—and inviting us to reflect on *why* these fabricated realities feel so familiar and comfortable. This still photographs as "cinema," when there isn’t anything cinematic, strictly speaking. What does this mean, hmmm? Editor: I never really considered it in that way before. It’s like she’s creating a feedback loop of images and stereotypes. I'll certainly look at film stills differently now! Curator: Wonderful! Now we’re all tumbling down the rabbit hole of identity, performance, and representation. Isn’t art grand?