Final Assignment

Photographic Research

This image by Cindy Sherman is an image from the “Centerfold or Horizontals” series. Each image of the series pictures different women. For the series, Sherman created images that was intended to mock the centerfolds from the pornographic magazines.

She shows what can be correctly assumed to be a teenager in her early teens. The teenager is portrayed as an innocent being. But Sherman has also succeeded in introducing an element of seduction hidden in the innocence of the girl. The girl in the image is shown to be carrying a crumbled page from a newspaper with one of her fingers pointing towards a particular point in that piece. On a closer look, it is revealed that the finger is pointed towards a ‘singles’ ad in the piece of newspaper. This simple detail reveals the longing of the teenager to become a woman. It shows that she is ready to leave her life of a teenager behind, find a suitable man and become his woman.

The image has been kept simple by the use soft and minimum lines as well as different values of almost the same color. The use of horizontal lines in the image also conveys that the teenage girl depicted is at rest.

This picture caught my attention because of its simplicity. I loved the way the image portrays two contrasting characteristics, innocence and seduction, in a single picture. Also, the way Cindy Sherman has shown the feeling of longing in the eyes of the teenaged girl is simply brilliant. I could also relate to the image as this is a phase undergone by all of us during our adolescence period.

Assignment 4