Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman, and Cui Xuiwen

While these three women artists used different media (paint, photographs, digital imaging), they expressed some similar themes regarding women in their work.
First, in Cindy Sherman’s work, in her untitled film series, we see glamorous women exposed in their private moments. The use of black and white film and sharp contrasts lends drama to otherwise everyday scenes. The expressions on the women’s faces are either carefully emotionless, fearful(as if they are being pursued), or despairing. The are crowded into the frame of the picture if the scene is set indoors, as if they are trapped in a situation or role that they did not choose, and are not happy with. In the scenes set outdoors, there is an element of danger, as the space around them seems large and empty, yet a threat seems to lurk nearby. This feeling comes from emptiness of the space and dark shadows in some picture, and fearful eyes of the model gazing around in others.
In Cindy Sherman’s fairytale series, she works in color, but instead of beautiful women, we see Beauty turn into The Beast. The colors are garish, the lighting full of contrast and shadows, giving them a feeling of horror movie stills. In her historical portrait series, Cindy Sherman uses traditional demure poses, colors, and at least a century-old period era clothing, yet injects partial nudity of the female figures calmly staring at us. Lastly, in her centerfold series, Cindy Sherman unexpectedly shows us cropped figures, dressed in rumpled clothes hastily put on, sleeping , or looking fearful, but definitely not sexy.
Cindy Sherman takes commonly-held expectations and stereotypes, and shows us another, less attractive side. For example, women are expected to dress fashionable, wear make-up, and always look their best, fit into a role that they are expected to fill, and to be brave and hide pain behind a mask of calm. In her portraits, we see women whose elegant masks sometimes slip to show their vulnerability and unhappiness with their role or situation, whose idea of sexy might be a good night’s sleep, or whose fairytales turn into horror stories. Also, in the historical portraits, I see the objectification of a popularly ogled women’s body parts, a feeling of being visually stripped bare that many women have encountered. In her portraits women are alone, isolated, and vulnerable. Cindy Sherman uses herself as the only model in her work, yet these do not feel like self-portraits, they seem to represent women as a group. Through her disguises she represents many different types of women, but also exposes feelings that all women share. So, in that way, perhaps she is also exposing herself to us, as well.