Emma Cleary on Writing a Psychological Horror Novel Influenced by Film Stills

Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills, a suite of seventy black-and-white photographs, imitate publicity stills for noir and arthouse films. The photographs invite viewers to lean close to see them in detail. Each woman in the stills is the artist herself, posed in vintage costumes, wigs, and makeup. The photographs suggest a larger story unfolding around the moment of capture. One photograph features a glamorous blonde standing beside a bookshelf, reaching for a book. The woman’s gaze is fixed on something off-camera. The photograph functions as a cinematic fragment, suggesting danger without showing violence. The images reveal feminine archetypes as deliberate performances and adopt the visual language of cinema while exposing its artificiality.

• Cindy Sherman started making this suite of seventy black-and-white photographs in 1977, in imitation of the publicity stills for noir and arthouse films from earlier decades.
• Each of these women is the artist herself, posed in a variety of vintage costumes, wigs and makeup.
• The photographs adopt the visual language of cinema while exposing its artificiality, yet they remain seductive, emotionally charged and symbolically powerful.

Source: Crime Reads  | 
Read the full article →