Beneath The Roses Analysis

Cindy Sherman and Yasumasa Morimura are two great photographers whom have challenged the social subjectivity of sexual orientation through their provocative photos of the women’s body and representing it in how they imagined it should be represented. Both photographers come from different background and have different approach to their work, but it is evident that they both challenge the themes concerned with gender and the historical representation of women’s bodies. In the case of Tasumasa Morimura, it is interesting to observe how he challenges this role, considering that he is a male, but nonetheless his work does indeed challenge the historical context of the representation of the women body.
Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Still #21 (1978),
Though both photographers have different approaches and styles to their work, they both signify brilliant in their ability to grab the audience’s attention, while simultaneously describing a scene or an environment and leaving the audience with something to think about. Gregory Crewdson’s ‘Beneath the Roses’ (2003), is a complex piece of work that provides an opportunity for the audience to analyze and predict the message and feel to the photograph. One of his striking work is the untitled from the series ‘Beneath the Roses’ (2003). The symmetry of the photo creates a discomfort feel, followed by a dramatic and cinematic feel as the mother is placed in the middle, which signifies power; challenging the social subjectivity of an American family. The child placed in the right side close to the dark shade, the facial expression of the mother and son is very intriguing as well as they seem sad and not satisfied. On the left side of the picture there are two empty seats, which signify an absence of a family member; perhaps the father. With a darker shade in the background, we observe bright colors in the middle of the picture, in addition to the meal provided in the table; which signify the effort of the mother to provide for the family. This photo serves as an example of Gregory Crewdson’s dramatic, disturbing and cinematic