Gabriel Mercado - Insomnia

Untitled Film Still #54, 1980, Cindy Sherman

          Cindy Sherman inspired me to create this selfie because of the dark photos she took. This doesn't mean actual dark backgrounds, but more in the sense of the message Sherman was trying to convey that I saw, The connection I saw between me and Sherman's photo "Untitled Film Still #54, 1980", was the uneasiness of how it seemed she looked like. Shes a young women out late at night walking somewhere while being alert. This photo was taken back in the early 80's in which crimes against women were frequently happening with the low presence of police around. Shes seems to be in defense mode, while also portraying herself to be confident, with hands up and out of her pockets. 
     Personally, I try to stay as alert as I can anywhere I go, whether it be with out with friends, going to work, or even going to school. I try to sound out foot steps, and peoples breathing, I look out for peoples behaviors and how they are acting, I mentally play out possible scenarios with random people walking by me, to calm myself by pretending that situation played out already, so I have nothing to fear. These thoughts are constantly going on in my head, to protect myself just in case something does happen, This in turn spends a fair amount of energy and focus, dividing my attention to multiple tasks. It creates anxiety, stress, and can sometimes affect my work, but its something I'm accustomed to now, because it has generated positive results for me in the past on numerous accounts. 
     The Cindy Sherman effect is the revolution of photography. Sherman changed the way a photograph was taken, it no longer was just smile or look into the camera lens, but change your persona. Become something different, morph into a totally different person and act as if you really were that person. This inspired many other photographers to follow in Sherman's footsteps, to make their own photographs through different personalities that brought out what they really wanted to show. I think everyone has a different part of themselves that they wont show out to the world for whatever the reason, but through a photograph, they could.