Untitled 1976

Curator: Cindy Sherman’s “Untitled” photograph from 1976 invites us into a staged moment of adolescent nonchalance. Shot in black and white, this c-print presents Sherman herself in character, years before her groundbreaking film stills series. Editor: It gives off such a raw, almost defiant vibe. The gaze, the cigarette... It's like a teen movie character paused between scenes. Very arresting, in a "warts and all" kinda way, you know? Curator: Precisely. This early work predates her more theatrical stills. Here, Sherman's already dissecting constructed identity, especially of young women in media, yet there's a performative rawness—a sense of authenticity. We might consider how the male gaze might perceive and construct the image of girlhood and growing up. Editor: And there's something almost unsettling in its starkness. The flat backdrop, the oddly retro shoes, like, what’s she rebelling *against* exactly? Herself, maybe? Those Mary Janes give an odd sense of purity alongside the rebellious cigarette, don't they? Like innocence lost before it's even had a chance. It’s so layered. Curator: Absolutely. We could situate this work in dialogue with broader discussions around feminism and representation during the 70s. The image plays with the intersection of objectification and agency. Who is in control of this narrative and for whom it is being shown is essential to this analysis? Editor: The photo, so simply composed, seems to echo throughout the space. I wonder what the teenaged Cindy thought of herself portraying so convincingly someone’s else’s impression of a restless youth. What I love is how such a simple shot contains so much. Curator: Yes! The layers within Sherman's seemingly off-the-cuff approach demand interrogation. She prefigures her later career, questioning image-making while showing how identities are mediated and always subject to socio-cultural scripts. Editor: Totally! It really makes you wonder what Cindy Sherman would whisper to the character in the portrait were she to look at it again today. That potential for reflection – that’s what gives a work real staying power.