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Men have had a long time to show and tell us about the world. Museums and galleries around the globe are filled with art, 87% + of it by men. For 5000 years art propaganda was created by and for the male gaze. It is no wonder that we take a narrow view of women as objects, as the recipient of men’s desire and shame.
I once shared the painting “Jenny’s Angry Uterus” with my (male) gynecologist, excited to explain how putting the female sex organs front and center gave me the freedom to show how women feel, how we experience ourselves as whole. This image is from the female gaze, an in-depth look at what women are made of.
After a bit of protracted listening, he left me with this departing shot, “ Do you think you will ever create art about other people, or just about yourself?”
By creating a portrayal of feminine carnality as subject rather than object, I, the artist, felt pleasure and power in expressing, “I am here, this is how I feel, this is my take on things!”As the viewer, the doctor was blinded by the dominant culture, unwilling to give credence to the female gaze, unable to imagine that the image expressed farcical empathy.
Art is propaganda for the self, a way protecting privilege. We unconsciously see the world through “men-colored” glasses. What we think we know of the world through art, film, writing, is overwhelmingly seen and expressed by men for male appreciation.
The female gaze is not the opposite, rather a whole different perspective. The female gaze uses a divergent vocabulary and certainly a revised narrative. The female gaze locates us inside the protagonist, where emotions are prioritized over action. The female gaze reclaims the body and mind to show authenticity and invites the viewer to feel. If women are objectified, it is to show just how it feels to be there. The heroine structure powerfully defines the viewpoint of the object and what the object represents. Mothers, daughters, girl next door, sex goddess, evil witch, porn favorites — there are many images of women out there from which to choose. Rest assured, women are intent on changing the view.
I exhibited Twenty Something at an Open Studio Tour. A male visitor attempted to shame me about the penis represented in the image. He was uncomfortable imagining a male body part as merely an object.
Work from the female gaze, in any of the arts, continues to celebrate women’s freedom of expression and demands acknowledgement of women in our cultural history. The change has begun and will explode in the twenty first century.
Men have had a long time to show and tell us about the world. Museums and galleries around the globe are filled with art, 87% + of it by men. For 5000 years art propaganda was created by and for the male gaze. It is no wonder that we take a narrow view of women as objects, as the recipient of men’s desire and shame.
I once shared the painting “Jenny’s Angry Uterus” with my (male) gynecologist, excited to explain how putting the female sex organs front and center gave me the freedom to show how women feel, how we experience ourselves as whole. This image is from the female gaze, an in-depth look at what women are made of.
After a bit of protracted listening, he left me with this departing shot, “ Do you think you will ever create art about other people, or just about yourself?”
By creating a portrayal of feminine carnality as subject rather than object, I, the artist, felt pleasure and power in expressing, “I am here, this is how I feel, this is my take on things!”As the viewer, the doctor was blinded by the dominant culture, unwilling to give credence to the female gaze, unable to imagine that the image expressed farcical empathy.
Art is propaganda for the self, a way protecting privilege. We unconsciously see the world through “men-colored” glasses. What we think we know of the world through art, film, writing, is overwhelmingly seen and expressed by men for male appreciation.
The female gaze is not the opposite, rather a whole different perspective. The female gaze uses a divergent vocabulary and certainly a revised narrative. The female gaze locates us inside the protagonist, where emotions are prioritized over action. The female gaze reclaims the body and mind to show authenticity and invites the viewer to feel. If women are objectified, it is to show just how it feels to be there. The heroine structure powerfully defines the viewpoint of the object and what the object represents. Mothers, daughters, girl next door, sex goddess, evil witch, porn favorites — there are many images of women out there from which to choose. Rest assured, women are intent on changing the view.
I exhibited Twenty Something at an Open Studio Tour. A male visitor attempted to shame me about the penis represented in the image. He was uncomfortable imagining a male body part as merely an object.
Work from the female gaze, in any of the arts, continues to celebrate women’s freedom of expression and demands acknowledgement of women in our cultural history. The change has begun and will explode in the twenty first century.