Photographer Cindy Sherman has made her Instagram, which has been active but private since October, public. Artnet was the first to notice the account, which in many ways is full of new pieces – raising questions of what counts as “art”. Over 590 images Sherman turns the camera on herself and plays with filters, stickers, digitally added wigs, and other edits to create grotesque, surreal selfies mixed in with more banal images of her day to day life.
Sherman has been known for her work on self-portraiture and self-representation, and this latest project (if it is) seems to be a natural extension of that. The use of filters to create the looks that she’d usually put together with extreme make-up and wigs isn’t that different to how a lot of us use Instagram, but for Sherman, it’s very close to her previous work. It also makes her work more accessible, removing the gallery setting and putting it all out there for her fans. The Instagram offers a look into her private life, too, again removing a barrier – she even posted playful photos from her hospital bed. Time will tell whether she intends it as an art project, or whether this is just the way she sees her world.
