Untitled 1976

Cindy Sherman made this photograph, using black and white film, at some point, somewhere. It feels like the kind of photo that emerges out of a conversation with yourself, shifting through costume, pose, and expression. The cigarette hangs out the mouth of the subject, like a punctuation mark in a statement. I imagine Sherman thinking about character, maybe thinking about artifice, about what to reveal and what to conceal. I am drawn to the contrast in textures. The difference between the frizzy, almost baroque wig, and the soft drape of the cardigan. Or the cross-legged denim, and the dull gleam of the stacked heel shoe. There's a stillness to the scene, too, and a sense of anticipation. All artists are in conversation with each other, and I wonder if she was thinking about other image makers when she made this, other photographers or painters. And how this piece relates to her wider practice of self-portraiture and performance. This picture embraces ambiguity, offering multiple interpretations over any one single, fixed meaning.