You Can Look but Can’t Touch: Cindy Sherman
Photographer and feminist Cindy Sherman consistently portrays an exaggeration of female
beauty in her exhibits with highly elaborated makeup, physical curvature of the body and
over-fashionable costumes. Through her morphing into ornamented female characters, she
provides insight into female identity, as well as society’s standard of beauty. In her portraits,
Cindy Sherman visibly overdraws plump lips, accentuates the cleavage, often making most of
her female subjects turn into grotesque looking characters. This was Sherman’s method of
iterating that women would go to extreme lengths just to fit in to the conventional molds of
society.
But in the image above, Untitled 97, Cindy Sherman takes a completely different approach,
fascinating her viewers. Her decision of adopting a very natural looking female instead of the
usual, scandalous costume makes Untitled 97 a trademark feature in her exhibition. In the
photograph, the lady embellishes a single crimson robe against her seemingly naked body.
Due to the fact that the crimson robe is untied and merely securing the private parts of her
body, viewers are naturally drawn toward the photograph. The robe, loosely held by a single
arm, looks as if it could fall off at any moment. As such, viewers are sexually tempted. With
her leg posture parting ways and a seductive, inviting look at the camera lens by the
photograph, the viewer feels a form of connection with her. It is only when the viewer digs
deeper into the intricate design of the photograph, that he/she understands Sherman’s
intentions of subverting the traditional notions of female objectivity.
In actual fact, Sherman deviates from such traditional notions by making the photographic
atmosphere unappealing to viewers. John Berger, an art critic who examines nude paintings
