Cindy Sherman is a leading contemporary artist in the field of self-portraiture. Born in New Jersey in 1954, she studied painting in college before she picked up a camera and was enthralled by the world of possibility that opened to her. She could work longer on the idea behind the shot, and spend less time on creating the actual piece – with one click the image had been captured. She typically worked in series, and she was often the subject of her own photography. Sherman liked to capture herself as different characters, dressing herself up in different outfits from thrift stories, and in make-up. These characters said something about the social condition, the changing times, and the world she saw around her. She idolized rebellious women that had subverted traditional gender roles by not getting married or starting a family. She often photographed herself as one of these femme fatales, either one on a climb to success, or one who had failed to break free and had been restrained by society. In the summer of 2019, the National Portrait Gallery in London will exhibit over 180 of her works, including her most famous series, Untitled Film Stills. This is the first ever retrospective of Cindy Sherman in the UK and promises to show audiences a true variety of the artists work.