I am further exploring the idea of the ‘male gaze’ and how this has evolved in correlation to technology over time. The critical frameworks I am researching are mostly selfie based works from current post-feminist and digital art.
The evolution of the screen and our interaction with it (from flat to virtual/immersive, outside to within). A viewers role now in digital space is now one of passive viewing and one of self-representation? Or active viewing and self-curation? The screen has become more so the “two-way mirror” - the same screen that we look at, looks at us. What gave us the freedom to represent ourselves has also given us anxiety to be perfect and the oppression of anonymous judgement. I would like to further develop and explore the theories of traditional cinema, self-representation in the digital age.
The evolution of the ‘screened female’ (ie a female that is on a screen to be looked at) and ways to shift power dynamics of the gaze. I am curious in the evolution of the interplay of the gaze. Especially how the power dynamics shift when the subject/nude becomes the artist.
There is a confusing loop of female representation right now - of representation and (being/sense of self) ….. that the female sits in right now. To portray sexuality is applauded or condemned, selfies are vain but they represent the ownership of our own self-image. Women now have the ability to be completely in charge of our own image, but the pressures of media, culture, reality means that this space is continuously oscillating between exploitation, narcissism and empowerment.
The evolution of self-representation in photography is fascinating to explore through history. How many of these artists used character or extremism for it to be considered ’high art’? Cindy Sherman, Claude Cahuns, Jaime Warren. The history of female photography self-portraiture seems riddled with character building and constructed identities and the constructed feminine. Also, the tie between photographic self-portraiture and mirrors is inherent. Is it an intrinsically female link to be photographed with/through a mirror, as they are looking at themselves anyway? AS the new ‘mirror’ - the flipped screen of the de vice - The ten year anniversary of the ‘flipped’ camera is coming up, what a great time to look at how this has shaped our current/modern predicament of the feminine construct.
The correlation between of the objectification of the female and how this relates to our interaction with technology… and where is this heading? The ideas of self-representation in digital culture ties together my interest in the viewers role becoming an active agent in the viewing of film, and the changing dynamics of the female object/subject relation in film/digi-culture. The effect of a multi-partied female representation, will hopefully portray my intention of a monster-like, dissected body reflecting power dynamics in screen culture. My aim is to further study more modern feminist theory and objectification theory - especially relating to film, digital and “selfie” culture. Amy Shields Dobsons exploration of the hypocrisy of the gendered selfie and the problematic nature of this culture. Barbara Fredrickson & Tomi-Ann Roberts ideas generated from Objectification theory, the experiential consequences of being a female in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body. I love the idea of monstrasizing, elongating and dissecting the female body in order to shift power dynamics of the traditional nude/female body in works such as Annagret Soltau, Juno Calypso and Jean-Paul Gaude.
The ideas from ’Virtual Normality: The female gaze in the age of the internet’ are incredible as a starting point, theorizing the post-feminine power dynamics of looking in post-internet, while also examining the works of great female writers/artists Juno Calypso, Leah Schrager. Devising the the Idea of the “Looped gaze” - the feeling of attraction and alienation when seeing yourself through your image in the social media age; the politics of the selfie - Identity, sexuality ands femininity via the body - bodies over which the author has total control - the body as material; and the power of the self-directed camera “the female gaze has an urgent task to assert the nuances of the female experience through visibility, according to the aphorism of the social media age: i am seen, therefore I am.”