By Dale Sparage

Like many female artists and photographers, I’m interested in the concept of the “female gaze”… how women look at women.  For centuries it’s been men on the other side of the canvas or, more recently, the camera, interpreting us. Women were not allowed to express themselves creatively or artistically until the middle of the 19^th Century. Historically speaking, we were strictly cast as models… usually portrayed in a passive stance that somehow fulfills male fantasies.

In the July/August issue of Frieze Magazine (www.frieze.com) Jennifer Higgie points out in her article, Alone again, or the Persistent and Enigmatic Subject of Women Turning Away:

“She’s been painted like this for centuries, and more recently, photographed. Often she is naked, in a bathroom or bedroom, solitary, sleeping, or day-dreaming, or at a picnic, momentarily stilled, or enveloped in a vague dark space. The one constant is that her face is obscured.”

Laura Mulvey’s groundbreaking 1975 article, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema made a huge impact on critical art theory and Feminist theory. In it, Mulvey coins the term “male gaze.” Within traditional films, she wrote, the subject being the woman is positioned as the “image” or spectacle in relation to the control of the male gaze.  Michael Foucault then took this a step further by linking the “inspecting gaze” to a position of power rather than gender.

By Dale Sparage

In 2000 I did a series of photographs called “Returning the Gaze.” The idea was to investigate how women see women,  and to give the models a sense of power by having them confront the viewer and actively engage in the staging of the photograph.  The challenge I found was finding this unique way of looking. We are so conditioned to look at women through the eyes of a culture that sexualizes and objectifies women that I found it difficult to locate a true “feminine gaze” that wasn’t influenced by this cultural bias.

I discovered the images contained an overtone of sexuality which seemed to be a softer, more sensual aspect of the erotic rather than the overt hardcore pornographic kind. This revealed to me a difference in the way of looking at and responding to sex.

In the blog post, Webcamatic Gaze, Reconfiguring Visual Eroticism http://www.sexualinteractions.org the blogger is a young woman discussing the self-consciousness she experiences as she uses the webcam to have sex with her boyfriend who’s a thousand miles away.

This aspect of looking and being looked at through eyes with a point of view other than the “male gaze” is deeply rooted in “Feminist” ideology, and has interested me and been an underlying concept in my work.

An artist needs to be aware of the critical, cultural and personal contexts in which their work is created and interpreted.  Linda Alcoff discusses the position of women in her article, Cultural Feminism vs. Poststructuralism: The Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory:

“The identity of a woman is the product of her own interpretation and reconstruction of her history as mediated through the cultural discursive context to which she has access.”

by Dale Sparage

I grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, a time when “Liberal Feminism” forced society to focus on the oppression of women. The “movement” dictated the solution was to put on suits and act like men . By the 1980s the radical views of Feminist ideology had collapsed into the political mainstream. But not without a strong backlash. One only need look at the entertainment industry to view the models of women in power; the majority are highly sexualized commercial products.  This is one industry that defines culture, especially for the younger generation.

With these and other images coming at us from all directions, what are the questions today’s young women need to ask of themselves and our culture to establish a position with which they can be confident and comfortable?

Alcoff goes on to say, “The position of women is relative and not innate, and yet neither is it undecidable.” Gender, she says is the starting point. “We are not passive recipients, but actively contribute to the context of our positions.”

Art Reviews
This month I reviewed photographs by Monica Elizabeth Breen at The Butcher’s Daughter Gallery (www.thebutchersdaughter.com). Breen brings to light the question, “What’s wrong with leaving things in their natural state?” Thus, she views Feminism from an intuitive place. (Please read the complete  art reviews on detroiter.com.)

I also reviewed Beverly Fishman’s show “Kandyland” at The Lember Gallery (www.lemberggallery.com). Fishman examines the body’s relationship to technology and science, bringing up interesting questions on our position in relationship to the pharmaceutical and medical industries that have become big business within our culture.

There are also some exciting resources and projects by young women on the site http://www.Aboutface.com that deal with women and teenage girls’ body image. Then there is Sarah Haskins’ blog, “Target Women”, which she uses to critique how the mass market sells products to women. She does it in such an amusing and entertaining way, you’re hardly aware it’s very educational.

For me, my photographs and the aspect of staging help me understand my position in the world.

by Dale Sparage

My photographs, or “image worlds,” as Walter Benjamin refers to them, provide a space for the emotional, psychological and physical to converge.  Working through how I see women helps me understand how I see myself.

Walter Benjamin writes, “For it is another nature that speaks to the camera rather than to the eye; “other” above all in the sense that a space informed by human consciousness gives way to one informed by the unconscious.”

As my subconscious stares back at me, I discover places in my psyche that have remained hidden. Parts of myself, thoughts or feelings reveal themselves, attaching new meaning to my personal history and my position in relation to the world. For example, the ways in which the mind and body become fragmented through the prism of technology, or ways in which sexuality permeates imagery, text and sound, and the resulting effect on my relationships.

There have been overtones of the ‘F’ word in my work from the beginning. Today as our work is passed down to a new generation of women, I anticipate they’ll continue to ask the difficult questions that impact the lives of women. It’s all good, I happily don my bowler hat and sneakers one day and my stiletto heels the next. I continue to explore issues that relate to my position and identity in the world, aware that that both are ever changing, allowing me to emerge continuously transformed.

Join the “F” Word Project
It is my goal to compile a series of essays written about experiences and ideas encountered through the “F” word. I welcome contact from both genders. If you are willing and would like to participate in this project, email dalesparage@msn.com.  Please use “The ‘F’ Word” in the subject heading.

About the Subconscious
Women today who are challenging the stereotypes and for more information on the subconscious and other workings of the mind see Dr. Elaine Kissel’s blog (www.4elainekissel.wordpress.com).