Untitled #97

I have never heard of Cindy Sherman, never knew the woman that she was until this moment. From watching the video and viewing the art, it brought interest to me to figure out what was this woman's purpose. In artsy.net I was scrolling through and viewing her "Untitled Film Stills," that she created in 1977-1980. Then there was this collection from after 1980, called the "Pink Robe" series including photos 'Untitled #97-100'. I took a specific liking to this collection as the photos truly reminded me of a woman in her true form, thoughts, and so on. 

My favorite was Untitled #97. During this series, Cindy explained the purpose of the photos. She commented that she was, 'not thinking about movies and generalizations as much as I used to. I think it's more psychological now, more emotional than theatrical...I'm not working with environment behind me, I'm concentrating on the face really, so it all comes out through expressing some kind of inner emotion.'

 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sherman-untitled-97-p77728.  And that is exactly how I felt looking through this collection. I felt pain, confusion, anger, solitude, mainly solitude.

In addition, I see a woman showing her womanhood, her skin and what she has found acceptance with, but the shadowing in the back expressing    protection...keeping ones guard up. As someone who is a feminist I can see this conveying that women these days battle with trying to represent the sexy confident woman that they are but still being on the fence about it because of what society has displayed. This photo makes me think to myself that these are everyday issues. These are issues I struggle 

with myself. Society will tell me that if I dress to my liking, it can be a debatable discussion on what i'm wearing is acceptable or not. That if a woman wears less she will be sexualized, but if she is wearing more she will be called a prude, but for Cindy she took it to her creation and gave power to these images of a woman taking her choice into her hands.