Exhibition at Stills, Edinburgh from June 28th to October 6th, 2019
Although not a large exhibition, there are 21 prints, a display copy of the book Cindy Sherman – Untitled Film Stills and a looped showing of her 1975 16m film Doll Clothes.
The exhibition is laid out over two rooms. The first is dedicated to Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills series and includes a copy of the book Cindy Sherman – Untitled Film Stills and gelatin silver prints of Untitled Films Stills numbers #22, #24, #28 and #83.
The second room has a looped showing of the film Doll Clothes and 17 prints from the series Murder Mystery People.
Being more familiar with her Untitled Film Stills series, I found her earlier work of greater interest.
Comparing the prints from the Untitled Film Still series with the Murder Mystery People there was an obvious progression in technique.
The latter series is much simpler with regards to sets, in fact the images are reminiscent of the line-ups you see in police dramas on TV or film. A single figure stood in front of a plain background, in this case a wall, a single power socket drawing the eye away from the main figure.
Sherman is brilliant at turning herself into different people. Male, female, young or old, you need to look closely to see that it is her. In Murder Mystery People it is her eyebrows that lead you to see that the characters are the same person, but in the context of the theme, could be related to each other.
The latter series is much simpler with regards to sets, in fact the images are reminiscent of the line-ups you see in police dramas on TV or film. A single figure stood in front of a plain background, in this case a wall, a single power socket drawing the eye away from the main figure.
I feel that this adds another level to the characters she is portraying, particularly where the characters are not supposed to be related.
What really drew me to this series of images was the wires on the floor. At first, I thought that these were linked into some of the props, something plugged into the wall socket, a telephone lead. Then I realised that there were wires in each of the images, even the ones where there were no props.
Looking at Sherman’s work I’d always assumed that she was either a remote release or a timer to trigger the camera. What I hadn’t considered was that these photographs were taken in the mid-70s when infra-red remote releases didn’t exist. Seeing the wires on the floor I realised how she was triggering the camera remotely. A foot release directly connected to the camera allowed her to position herself and then trigger the camera to take the photo.
From appreciating each image for what it shows, I now found a deeper appreciation of each because of the techniques she used while taking the photographs.
Today, the technical side of capturing the images would be much easier, the level of artistry remains the same or is even greater.
Instagram allows us to take selfies wherever and whenever we want. Sherman’s images, I feel, would be lost today.
As fascinating as her photos are, Cindy Sherman’s Doll Clothes 16mm film is even more so. Stop motion filming of images of Sherman in lingerie and a dress, printed and cut-out, show a doll getting dressed before a hand comes in and puts the doll and clothes back into their storage pouches.
Again, modern technology allows for a much better result compared to 16mm film but the effort the Sherman put in to her 2 minutes plus film makes it far more impressive and attention grabbing. There is also a feel of watching a film from the early 20th century, something akin to Méliès A Trip to the Moon / Le Voyage Dans La Lun.
Jenna Powell - Expressing Your Vision 