Cindy Sherman: ‘Little girls play dress-up – but I was always trying to be a monster instead of a fairy’

‘I was more impressed by movies than visual art’ … Untitled #80 (1980). Photograph: © Cindy Sherman Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

I posted a mirror selfie to Instagram last night, I tell Cindy Sherman. There were so many things to consider. Were the lighting and angle flattering? Did I capture my good side?

She laughs. “I do find it fascinating,” she says, “this whole tradition of taking a selfie in a mirror. You can see how a person’s posed, the way they’re holding the camera. There can be different outfits every day, but you’re always in your elevator. In a way it becomes a conceptual photography project. It’s funny.”