SHERMAN 2011.084

Since her earliest works Sherman has personally assumed the roles of director, photographer, model and stylist to create her images. Untitled 2007–08 belongs to a recent series of images that have their genesis in a suite of fashion photographs first seen in the August 2007 issue of French Vogue. Sherman appears twice in Untitled, as a pair of Balenciaga-clad women caught in the unforgiving light of the social photographer's flash. The viewer notes only minor variations between the two subjects, highlighting the fashion industry's contradictory celebration of personal style while encouraging a herd mentality. The photograph also relates to Sherman's 'Hollywood/Hampton Types' series of 2000–02, which depicts wealthy, elaborately dressed older women whose expressions and excessive use of cosmetics push the images into the realm of caricature. Untitled and other recent works can be seen as reflections on experiences and representations of beauty, self-definition and ageing.