“It’s just really what I wind up seeing, and what I see that doesn’t have anything to do with me, I think, is when I know it works. Because a lot of time when I’m editing the slides that I’ve just shot, most of it just looks like I recognize myself all the time. Edit… edit… edit… And finally I see the one that looks like somebody else, or something else, and that’s how it works.” —Cindy Sherman
Happy birthday to artist Cindy Sherman who just recently celebrated her birthday, born on January 19, 1954! Sherman is a pioneering photographer and filmmaker, and one of the most influential artists of her generation. For over three decades, she has been the subject of her own photographs, rendering herself unrecognizable through costume, tableau, and more recently, digital alteration, to create images that hold a sometimes harsh mirror to contemporary culture. In this video from Illuminations Media’s 1986-1987 State of the Art series, we see Sherman in her studio, exploring prosthetics and discussing her work, while – in order to reach peak 1986 – Robyn Hitchcock plays in the background.