Since the late 1970s Cindy Sherman has donned an array of personas, disguises and costumes to explore how woman are perceived, presented and judged in Western culture.

As a young child, Sherman was fascinated with costumes and dressing up, interests that evolved to engage with social and cultural politics. These practices have placed Sherman’s works consistently in dialogues of feminist and post-modern theories.

“Untitled” was created during Sherman’s studies at State University of New York, Buffalo, at the beginning of the artist’s career.

In this pseudo-self portrait, Sherman assumes the persona of a young girl posing for the camera, evoking an awkward youngster from the 1940's or 50's. Costume and makeup characteristically obliterate the artist’s own identity, emphasizing the malleability of the human persona.

“Untitled” predates Sherman’s iconic “Film Stills” of 1977, but in this early work the nascent ideas the artist uses in the “Film Stills” are present.