She appears in this picture as a frightened young woman, dressed in what seems to be a school uniform, with a pleated skirt, wearing wet short hair, and presenting a deep sense of fear on her eyes, apparently pushed to the floor, her fingers holding her body in position.
The menacing context of the picture is left unexplained to the viewer, but seems reminiscent of some of the female characters in Alfred Hitchcock's films, like Janet Leigh in Psycho and Tippi Hedren, in The Birds.
The picture epitomises what critic Roberta Smith wrote on the Centerfolds series: "Sherman makes you understand the components of photography with a particular bluntness which is one of her trademarks.
The roles of color, light, cropping, space, eye contact (or lack of it) are continually stated and restated and we read them just as we do details of clothing, hairdo, posture, flooring.
"[1] Despite not being published, the Centerfolds series was shown in an exhibition in 1981 to highly critical acclaim and led to Sherman being invited for the documenta 7, in 1982, and the Venice Biennale.