Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades

M+ will bring together the works of two photography artists who are vastly different people but both create staged photographs that explore the same concepts. This marks the first exhibition presenting the Japanese Yasumasa Morimura and the American Cindy Sherman, showing how they rethink identity across disparate times, places, and culture.

Since the 70s and 80s, both Morimura and Sherman have been drawing inspiration from female archetypes and iconic figures in art and pop culture, then reconstructing these contextual identities through staged photographs. Gathered into four series, see works where the artist masquerades as celebrities and historical figures, images shot to resemble erotic magazine spreads from the mid-twentieth century, and satires of gendered tropes found in movie culture.

While it can be fun to simply spot the references in these works, this exhibition nudges viewers to think about the relationship between identity, mass media, and history. What sort of roles do we embody in life, and what are the influences that have shaped us into who we are now? Look through Morimura and Sherman’s lenses to see what they have to say.

Opening on December 14, tickets for the Masquerades exhibition will cost $120 – this also allows entry to other exhibitions like Shanshui: Echoes and Signals, M+ Sigg Collection: Another Story, Making It Matters, and more. Tickets to the special exhibitions currently at M+ (I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture and Guo Pei: Fashioning Imagination) includes access to all general admission galleries in the museum.