Cindy Sherman (b.1954, Glen Ridge, New Jersey, USA) is a photographer and filmmaker whose self-portraits offer critiques of gender and identity. She graduated from the State University of New York, Buffalo in 1976, and in 2013 received an Honorary doctorate degree from the Royal College of Art, London. She lives and works in New York City, New York, USA.

Since the 1970’s Sherman has consistently produced a wide body of work that deconstructs, distorts and seductively interrogates femininity as a social construct, as well as exploring other social roles perpetuated by gender and class. She uses theatrical effects, roughly applied make-up, slipping wigs, props, prosthetics slipping off to highlight the artifice of these fabrications. Despite the colourful and desirable surface of some of her work, the grotesque is also at the forefront as she confronts viewers with the stranger aspects of humanity in explicit, visceral images. While her practice has grouped her with the Pictures Generation, along with significant artists such as Sherrie Levine and Louise Lawler, Richard Prince, her distinctive blend of performance and photography stands alone.