Summative Statement

My research project focused around the question “How does feminist art appropriate media originally intended for male consumption in order to subvert the male gaze?” The dissertation focuses around different practices that challenge the ideals of a patriarchal society and thus the gaze. My essay project is based on Laura Mulvey’s Gaze Theory, with much supporting research from John Berger, Rosalind Coward and Rebecca Schneider.

I investigated feminist artists, specifically the work of Hannah Wilke though I also explored the work of Annie Sprinkle as well as burlesque performance and feminist intervention, and the methods the practitioners use to subvert the male gaze.

The practical side of my research project is mainly based on these findings, and the language of male orientated media. I have also looked at questions of intent of the author and whether sexual agency can be fully communicated through illustration. I found through the project that many works that end up subverting the male gaze uses a similar visual language, however the piece will not fully subscribe to the male expectation of the media.

The project led me to create a modified porn magazine using the magazine ‘escort’ as a basis, and altering it with photomanipulation. This method synthesises with my research question, as I myself have created a piece of work with the intention of subverting the male gaze, by re-appropriating media that was originally intended for male consumption. The work created has different elements that link to the theories discussed within the essay, for example the use of eyes as a motif to turn the gaze back on the viewer.

A massive theme I have found is the use of similar visual language subverting the gaze, as "when the familiar is made strange, when the norm is recognised as queer" (schneider, year, p.45) male comfort diminishes and male power is challenged.  

Presentation Boards

Visual & Conceptual Development

Evaluation of project

COP3 draws to a close, so let us take a moment to relax and reflect with a good old evaluation of the project. 

This module has been a challenge, as COP usually is but I had a lot of fun doing it! My project based around the question "How Does Feminist Art Appropriate media originally intended for male consumption in order to subvert the male gaze?" I think I made a good choice of question as I didn't really have to change it too much from what I started with. I toyed with a lot of ideas over summer that my brain was getting a little overloaded, but through exploring this question I think I actually ended up including a lot of the points I had initially including ; authorship, censorship, the vagina dentata etc. 

I know I did not manage my time well. I never do. I did make some attempt to, but it felt like so much was happening at once. I enjoyed working on the dissertation and theoretical side even though I don't feel confident with my writing, the writing side of my project always ends up stronger than my practical side. 

My practical work started off slow, I was definitely behind for some time. A lot of people had a product they felt they wanted to do but I didn't have that strong feeling at the same time, so I feel like I rushed myself into choosing a product which was appropriate, which was the magazine. Technically I have improved photomanipulation skills and my final magazine product relates well to my dissertation question. There is synthesis in the fact my product is partially made from media that was intended for male consumption, but I have altered it so it subverts the gaze. I have done this by identifying key visual techniques in male-orientated media such as the passive look of women and how they are unaware they are being looked upon, the erasure of bodily functions and features such as body hair, the mystification of the female body - and finding ways of drawing a lot of attention to this - for example the use of eyes in unconventional places to turn the gaze back on the viewer. I loved how the magazine turned out as it does genuinely look just like a magazine, thanks to the glossy thin paper down in the print dungeon. 

My one regret for this was not doing loads more drawing and exploration of the project. I really wish I'd just done tonnes of drawings to work from. In the end I did some little experiments with pin up drawings to bring some traditional work back in, I didn't want to force it though, but I thought it was still relevent to the project. I wish I'd given myself more time to make weird gif's because I think that weird blinking gif was one of my favourite pieces from this project. Maybe a sign I should do more gifs in the future. 

Overall I'm happy with the progress I've made in this module, I think I've gained more research skills and developed some very different skills (photomanipulation, using indesign) that I can use in the future. 

Exhibiton Proposal

While I spent a majority of my practical time working on the magazine I wished I had the time to do more stuff. I thought there must be a way to reflect more representations of women created for male consumption, and making them weird.

The concept is an exhibition space with different masculine spaces. 

A teenaged boys bedroom in which the modified porn magazine is

A vintage garage with a modified pin-up on the wall

and a 1800's style 'gentlemens study' with a modified classical nude 

The exhibition would be interactive and I intend to be able to show people how the male gaze had influenced media through several different eras. 

I'd already worked on some pin up concepts for this. (see a previous post) 

but I didn't have enough time to get what I wanted done for the classical painting so I have done a quick digital mockup to get the point across in my presentation board. 

Dissertation

My Dissertation in it's final form

PIN UP CONCEPTS // FINISHED NOT QUITE FINISHED

I really wanted to do something a bit more traditional, and figured I had enough time to whip up a couple of these for my exhibition proposal. 

I have used the same themes that run throughout my work, linking the theme of my dissertation - appropriating media for male consumption, in this case the pin up, and subverting it, via the weird additions such as eyes in different places, the vagina dentata, and the disappearing woman. 

Although this is not technically my best work, I really wanted to have something more in my personal style for this project, as I believe the magazine responded and worked well with the research project and had my weird tone of voice but I feel wasn't all me! I think If I'd made a fully illustrated version it might have suited me more? I still like what I've produced, I think its a good parody of lad culture! But I believe this is also appropriate to the project as it shows a different era of male-orientated media. 

I tried to add textures to sort of mimic the pin up drawing style, but I'd definitely consider these more concepts than finished outcomes to anything.