The Broad collection has been dedicated to the work of Cindy Sherman, one of the best-known and most important photographers working today, for over thirty years. Now, the Downtown Los Angeles contemporary art museum de jour is offering up its first-floor galleries to some 120 works from the American photographer and film director, in the first special exhibition of its kind within the space.

Organized by guest curator Philipp Kaiser, Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life, poses powerful questions around female identity, representation, stereotypes, cinema, and the image-saturated world of celebrity we live in.

“I am trying to make other people recognize something of themselves rather than me.”

+ Photo by Ben Gibbs, courtesy of The Broad

“Cindy Sherman’s work has been a touchstone for the Broad collection since Eli and Edye Broad first encountered it in 1982, and Cindy is the only artist in the collection whose work we’ve acquired so deeply and regularly, for more than 30 years,” said Joanne Heyler, founding director of The Broad. “There are 127 Cindy Sherman photographs in the Broad collection, the largest holding of her work in the world, and inaugurating our special exhibitions with an artist whose work sparked the Broads’ deep commitment to contemporary art could not be more appropriate for us.”

Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life runs from June 11 to October 2.

Hear Jamie Lee Curtis, Molly Ringwald, John Waters, and other art, film, and fashion luminaries discuss key pieces in the exhibition in the video below:

• Story by Ariel Katz