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.