Untitled #264

In 1992, Sherman produced a series of sex pictures using artificial body parts purchased from medical supply catalogues and typically employed for educational purposes. In this work, recalling the debased anatomical survey of a pornographic shot, detailed prostheses form a surrogate body. Dichotomies emerge between sterile and sensual, dominance and submission, and pain and pleasure. Here the figure wears both a bondage mask and a tiara, her artificial body awkwardly arranged. A mask, another pair of breasts, and a stiff, plastic, and unreal hand appear on the periphery of the image. In the center is the anatomically accurate prosthetic vagina. The confrontational image compels viewers into awareness of their own roles as voyeurs.