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Me, Myself, and I

© Joe Jeskiewicz

One name that I think all artists should know is Cindy Sherman. For those of you who don't know, she is a photographer. I think she is best known for her works of herself. Cindy Sherman has an extensive collection of artworks in which the primary figure is herself, and also not herself. She adopts the roles of various icons of her past and of her mind such as the "innocent runaway" or "perky librarian". She confronts us with the perceptions of how we think women should be and also challenges herself to realize these perceptions.

Society definitely holds specific types of people in specific types of roles. If you are a muscular male you are expected to be in sports of some kind. If you have somewhat of a pot belly and a five o'clock shadow you may be perceived as the armchair quarterback. Women who are exceptionally thin are thought to be models and/or anorexic. Women with larger breasts are thought to be playboy bunnies or exotic dancers. These are generalized stereotypes perpetuated by mass media because over time that is what we expect to see. We are thrown off by the pencil thin lab coat guy crushing the beer can and whooping it up with his buddies in front of the big screen on Sunday. We will do a double take at the guy who looks like he just stepped out of the butcher shop with the bloody apron who appears in the audience of the opera or ballet.

I think that Sherman knew how to challenge these stereotypes that applied to her individually. She also knew what she wanted to express about how she felt, whether it was perhaps how ridiculous the perception of her was or how it made her feel. I think the ambient feeling is there in the image. In that vein, it's an area of photography and creative exploration that needs to be explored more. I think that human expression and perceived stereotypes should be challenged by the artistic community. The real challenge here though, might not be finding the stereotype but presenting it in a factual but non offensive way.

For instance, the thin woman who may be perceived as anorexic need not be shown gorging on food or with her head hung over the "throne". Perhaps a more positive image in this case might be appropriate. Perhaps the thin woman needs to be the armchair quarterback, the soccer mom, or the office exec. In some cases I think that the Stock Photography archives of the world may cover some of these thoughts but elements of photography are not all glamour and smiles. Images that express the spontaneity of catching a stereotypical looking person our of character may be slightly out of focus, off center, or somewhat grainy. The style of the artist is definitely a factor in the look of the finished product here.

Chained

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