Representation, Gender, and Power

 Cindy Sherman

    Cindy Sherman provoked innovative ideas about gender and power through her photography. The MOMA states “Sherman was always interested in experimenting with different identities. As she has explained, “I wish I could treat every day as Halloween, and get dressed up and go out into the world as some eccentric character” (2016). She documented her transformation into various personas through photographs. Her goal as an artist was to display the diversity of humans through her images. Her work in the 1980s and 1990s was controversial for its grotesque imagery. The MOMA states,” In the 1980s and 1990s, series such as The Disasters (1986–89) and the sex pictures (1992) confronted viewers with the strange and ugly aspects of humanity in explicit, visceral images. “I’m disgusted with how people get themselves to look beautiful; I’m much more fascinated with the other side,” she said in 1986 (2016).  Untitled #264 depicts femininity assertively, unlike traditional representations. The photograph pushes past purity culture and moves forward in defying ideas of women.

Untitled #264, Cindy Sherman, 1992

Barbra Kruger

    Barbra Kruger challenged traditional notions of power by using mainstream media to directly confront the viewer. The MOMA states, “Through a canny combination of imagery and text appropriated from magazines, television, video, and newspapers, Kruger's practice, spanning more than four decades, challenges how we assign meaning to visual signifiers of faith, morality, and power” (2022). Kruger uses direct words to create a personal experience for the viewer through her work. In Untitled (You Invest in the Divinity of the Masterpiece), Kruger pushes through the ideas of divinity from the reproduction of imagery from the Sistine Chapel. She allows the viewer to think about the words, “You Invest in the divinity of the masterpiece” and how they contribute to the divinity of placing power on people and religion. She uses black, white, and red in all her artworks to keep the focus on the message she conveys. Kruger also places importance on gender identity and its irrelevance through the words she uses. Kruger is direct and bold in her statements through her art. The Art Story states, “Kruger combines tactics like appropriation with her characteristic wit and direct commentary to communicate with the viewer and encourage the interrogation of contemporary circumstances” (2025). Her approach appears in her “Gender is irrelevant” piece, highlighting gender equality.

Barbara Kruger Art, bio, ideas. The Art Story. (n.d.). https://www.theartstory.org/artist/kruger-barbara/

Barbara Kruger | Moma. (n.d.-a). https://www.moma.org/artists/3266

Cindy Sherman | Moma. MOMA. (2016). https://www.moma.org/artists/5392-cindy-sherman