Collection 1980s–Present

Catalyst Program, The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Beatriz Meseguer/onwhitewall.com. © 2020 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still #28. 1979-80 817

Gelatin silver print, 7 1/2 × 9 7/16" (19.1 × 24 cm). Purchase. © 2024 Cindy Sherman, courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures, New York

Security Officer, Jose Martinez: My name is Jose Martinez, I’m a security officer at MoMA, and I'm an artist.

Music: “She walks like a film star…”

Jose Martinez: We are looking at the Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Stills. It's such an amazing series.

Music: “She walks like a film star, all around town…”

Jose Martinez: Doing all these poses and having all these costumes, you know? It was just amazing that she was able to show power in certain scenes that women will typically be shown as weak. She really just ensued strength in that. Even in certain poses that made her look like the damsel in distress, you could see that she was not that damsel.

Artist, Chemi Rosado-Seijo: Yeah, all the scenes it's not the real still of the movie, but it's a real photo of Cindy Sherman becoming that.

Jose Martinez: The greatest artists lie to you the best. For you to be able to get to the point where certain people like Cindy Sherman and all these people, you know, to get to that point, you really have to lie to yourself. You have to lie to everybody. You have to like take certain mediums that people thought it was in this and that, you know, and just change it and make them think that it was meant for that.

And for her to take these sceneries and play these characters in it, you know, and show her empowerment and how feminism isn't about trying to show strength or anything like that. It’s showing everything from top to bottom, what you could be, what they see you to be what you are over that. And she really translated that well into her work. She's been the one woman band. She's been the director of everything that she'd done it. That's what's great about it - to be in your own world. She wasn't just pointing the camera just to point the camera. She was trying to convey something every single time.

Oficial de seguridad, José Martínez: Me llamo José Martínez, soy guardia de seguridad del MoMA y soy artista.

José Martínez: Estamos viendo la obra de Cindy Sherman: "Fotogramas sin título". Es una serie increíble.

Hacer todas estas poses y ponerse todo este vestuario, ¿eh? Es impresionante que fuera capaz de mostrar ese poder en ciertas escenas en las que las mujeres suelen mostrarse como débiles. Ella realmente transmite fuerza. Incluso en ciertas poses que la hacen parecer como una dama en apuros; se nota que en realidad no es ese tipo de dama.

Artista, Chemi Rosado-Seijo: Sí, no todas las escenas son fotogramas reales de la película pero es una foto real de Cindy Sherman haciendo de eso.

José Martínez: Los mejores artistas son los que mejor te mienten. Para que puedas llegar a ese punto en el que ciertas personas, como Cindy Sherman y todas estas personas, sabes, para llegar a ese punto, realmente tienes que mentirte a ti mismo. Tienes que mentirle a todo el mundo. Tienes que tomar ciertos medios que la gente pensaba que eran para una cosa y cambiarlos y hacerles pensar que en realidad sirven para otra cosa.

Y para que ella haga estas escenas y haga el papel de estos personajes, ya sabes, y muestre su empoderamiento y cómo el feminismo no se trata de demostrar fuerza ni nada parecido. Está mostrando todo de arriba a abajo, lo que podrías ser, lo que ellos ven que eres, lo que eres por encima de eso. Y eso lo ha trasladado muy bien en su obra. Ha sido la mujer orquesta. Ella ha sido la directora de todo lo que ha hecho. Eso es lo fantástico de la obra: estar en tu propio mundo. No solo enfocaba la cámara por enfocarla, trataba de transmitir algo cada vez.