In her book Black Looks: Race and Representation, Bell Hooks expands upon what she coins the ‘oppositional gaze’ by which she unpacks how through film theory black women have had to develop an oppositional gaze when engaging with visual film culture to be able to enjoy the cinema despite the lack of proper representation. Hooks describes the gaze as “a site of resistance for colonised black people globally.” Thus she states this to support the political nature of the gaze, which is also reinstated through Foucault’s in Discipline and Punish, “he who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribed in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection" (Foucault, 1979, pp. 202-203)

Photography is the single most artistic medium that grants an audience a direct window into the lens of the photographer. Photographs are best understood as "collective assemblages"' of photographer, viewer, and photographed subject. (Eileraas, 2003, pp. 811-813) Thus photography allows one to analyse the gaze of the subject through the gaze of the photographer and oneself.

In this essay I will unpack and expand upon the ways in which the politics concerning the male and female gaze coexist within the realm of photography. Drawing upon accounts of Bell Hooks in Black Looks: Race and Representation, John Berger in Ways of Seeing, Foucault in Discipline and Punish, and Irene Visser in Reading Pleasure: Light in August and the theory of the gendered gaze will support my argument that there is prevalent male gaze and female gaze present within the realm of photography and how photographers previously and currently navigating the political nature of the gaze within their imagery.

With the support of Charlotte Jensen’s book Girl on Girl: Art and Photography in the Age of the Female Gaze, I will explore the relationship and distinction between the male and female gaze by drawing upon photographic examples in which artists are specifically targeting the gaze of one or the other to establish a specific political stance within their work. This paper traces the development of the gaze being used within the medium of photography to propose a political statement, such as the overwhelming patriarchal gaze placed upon women within fashion photography. Foregrounding the oppositional gaze theory that Hooks expounds upon within Black Looks: Race and Representation, I will discuss how there may be another developed gaze produced from both examinations of the male and female gaze that works to highlight the queer gaze present within 21st century photography.

In Ways of Seeing, Berger states that the male gaze is active and dynamic. He references that the male gaze controls and desires women; and while it is directed at women for sexual pleasure, it may also contain resentment and anger. Like Foucault, Berger emphasises that an important disciplinary effect of the gaze mechanism is that of internalisation, which for women means an estranging influence on their sense of selfhood (Visser, 283): "Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only the relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The Surveyor of women in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object—and most particularly an object of vision: a sight" (Berger, 1975, p. 47). Paintings, photography and film have been the main mediums in which men have exercised as Berger states, their control over and desire for women subjects. Specifically within photography, a man behind the camera has the ability to capture and depict a woman subject in the way in which he sees her. His gaze can be produced by the phallocentric nature to assert agency over their subjects by “claiming and cultivating awareness” (Hooks, 1992, p.116) within their images. This awareness of their subject or of certain landscapes can at times create or engage within destructive narratives that politicises what Hooks considers “looking relations.” (Hooks, 1992, p. 117) We see examples of this within modern fashion photography, where the photographer was usually a man and the subjects tended to mostly be women.

Within fashion photography, there is a constant dialogue between the garments and personal identity. “Fashion photography is a context in which the gaze is of the utmost importance for understanding the construction, contextualization and presentation of the portrayed subjects.” (Ruggerone, 2006, p.356). I’ve inserted this quote from a case study titled, The simulated (fictitious) body: The production of women’s images in fashion photography by Lucia Ruggerone to support my argument that the male gaze within this genre of photography furthers the politics in regards to the destructive nature of how women are seen and portrayed. I will utilise some early Vogue images produced by the late and acclaimed photographer, William Klein. During this time, Klein stood out within fashion photography given his use of a telephoto lens that allowed him to capture not only the models from a long distance, but also giving the viewer a bird’s eye view of the people also within the images that were not aware that they were being photographed. Thus it allowed for viewers to digest how these garments interacted with the body and everyday life. Specifically I will analyse one of his most infamous photographs during his time photographing for Vogue titled, “Nina and Simone, Piazza di Spagna; Rome, 1960.”

*William Klein: 'Nina and Simone', Piazza di Spagna, Rome, 1960:*

Within this stark black and white image, we see two women who seemed to be posed, but yet caught in a moment of action. Both women mirror each other’s poses and garments with ever so slight differences. Both garments accentuate both of the women’s figures; slim, long neck, and striding legs, which were and still are components of typical Western high fashion beauty standards. The most interesting aspect of this image are the gazes of the people within the foreground and background that interact with the two models. I want to point out the gaze of the woman within the background in comparison to the male gazes in the foreground. The woman in the background holds a gaze that looks directly at the models with a perplexed expression as she holds the arm of what appears to be another woman though half of her face is cut off. Whereas the males' gazes within this image are directed elsewhere. Thus this image supports Bergers claims that the surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. The male gaze also affects the ways in which women view other women through the lens of the male all the while this is captured by a male photographer looking through his lens. This is a common thread through Klein’s work with Vogue as well as most of the female subjects are predominantly white and fit within Western beauty standards. Though Klein utilised his lens to humanise the portrayal of these women within these garments, it still falls into the category of how men used their gaze within fashion photography to push these standards onto the viewer.

In the introduction of her book Girl on Girl: Art and Photography in the Age of the Female Gaze, Charlotte Jensen states that “photographs taken by women do not only exist as a counterpoint to the male narrative. A photograph is an impulse - and challenge - to enquire, not a representation of truth. More often than not I find that photographs of women by women I see point me back to my own prejudice and misconceptions.” (Jensen, 2017, p. 9) In the case of the female gaze, this quote supports the idea that the female gaze within the realms of photography does not function as a counterpoint for the male gaze, but simply functions as lens into how women see and create oppositionary images of how other women are seen. The female gaze works to present the multitude of ways women can challenge or inquire of the phallocentric narratives that men use against women within visual culture. On one hand, I do disagree with Jensen in the sense that the female gaze can also function as a representation of truth. Many women photographers utilise their gaze within their imagery to depict truths and contradict misrepresentations in regards to their cultures or subjective womanhood experience.

An artist who does exactly that is Lalla Essaydi. Essaydi began her career as a painter and then transitioned to photography, she identifies as an Arab woman who photographs Arab women. In Essaydi’s images she works to deconstruct the Western male gaze that eroticises Arab women within visual culture. Similar to William Klein’s images during career with Vogue, Essaydi considers the role of architecture, as well as relies heavily on space and garments within her imagery. Unlike Klein, Essaydi constructs and works within spaces, as well as garments and women that are representative of her Moroccan culture. In other words, Essaydi’s work functions as a representation of her truth regarding the projection of the western male gaze on Arab women, while celebrating her subjects authentic beauty. She quotes that, “I want the viewer to become aware of Orientalism as a projection of the sexual fantasies of Western male artists, in other words, as a voyeuristic tradition, which involves peering into and distorting private space.” (Jensen, 2017, p.14) An image from her Converging Territories series titled, Converging Territories #26 does exactly that for the viewer.

*Lalla Essaydi: Converging Territories #26*

In this large-format uncropped image, we see a group of women standing in the same poses, wearing garments decorated with Islamic calligraphy, and all looking directly at the camera. The same decorative Islamic calligraphy is repeated in the background as well as on the floor in the foreground. Each subject is completely covered except for half of their faces stopping right on the bridge of their noses. Unlike in Kelin’s Nina and Simone, Piazza di Spagna; Rome, 1960 image, in Converging Territories #26 Essaydi leaves no room for the viewer to perceive or accentuate the women's bodies. To an extent, the viewer is left to admire the beauty of these women in the absence of their faces and bodies. Thus, Essaydi has found a way to challenge the way we gaze at women in photography without seeing their full form. By doing this it invites the viewer to disable the Orientalist gaze placed upon Arab women as well as resist stereotypes. The most significant fact about this image is that it was shot in Essaydi’s childhood home in Morocco specifically in spaces that were designated for where ‘young women were sent when she disobeyed.’ (Jensen, 2017, p. 14)

Thus this supports my statement that Essaydi’s images also function as a representation of her truth. Within Converging Territories #26, the warm colour palette works with stark gazes staring right back at the viewer. The intense gazes of each subject supports the idea of the female gaze working to challenge the male gaze. In Essaydi’s artist statement she quotes, “the presence of men defines public space, the streets, the meeting places. Women are confined to private spaces, the architecture of the homes. In these photographs, I am constraining women within space, confining them to their ‘proper’ place, a place bounded by walls and controlled by men.” Her imagery supports this by the domestic nature that is present within her photographs, but in a way that allows the subjects to dictate how they are seen by how they look at the viewer.

As indicated previously, it is clear that there is a visual distinction between the male and female gaze within photography. To further support this claim, I want to introduce the work of Rania Matar. Matar’s work centres around the transitions and formations of female identity, while unpacking the pivotal moments beginning from adolescence to adulthood. Matar’s work also communicates and investigates the relationship between the Arab and American shared experiences in regards to womanhood. Specifically in her ongoing series, Unspoken Conversations I will analyse the image titled, Marina, Brookline, Massachusetts, 2013. In this image we see a triple reflection. We see the subject’s gaze within the small handheld mirror, the averted gaze alongside the top half of the subject’s body within the larger bathroom mirror, and lastly the gaze of Matar through her lens. What’s interesting about Matar's gaze within this image is the fact that the woman subject's eyes are not looking back at Matar as if she is not being looked at. This kind of apparently intentional yet candid photography relies upon pictorial conventions that give the impression that Matar is not actually present with the camera, thereby presenting the image as if this woman is getting ready unwatched. Thus almost creating a space where the viewer is gazing upon a private moment. From the angle that Martar shot this image we see that the back of the subject’s dress is unzipped showcasing undergarments in way that is not overtly sexual. The clutter of bathroom products, makeup, the warm tungsten light within the space, and the unzipped dress indicate that the subject is in the process of getting dressed. This image signifies a familiar moment within womanhood, the process of getting ready and shaping ourselves to engage within phallocentric society.

*Rania Matar: Marina, Brookline, Massachusetts, 2013*

The clear distinction between the male and female gaze within photography is showcased in this image. Matar’s female gaze is apparent by the lack of oversexualised undertones indicated by the pictorial conventions that give the impression that Matar is not actually present with the camera which is indicated by the angle of which she shot this image. Even though this image consists of a peak of a half nude woman, there is no overt romanticization or idealised beautification showcased of this figure. Rather this image addressed how women see and create oppositionary images of how other women are seen among other similarities regarding womanhood.

As was pointed out in the introduction to this paper, there is another developed gaze produced from both examinations of the male and female gaze that works to highlight the queer gaze present within 21st century photography. Similar to how Bell Hooks describes the oppositional gaze that black women have developed when engaging with hollywood films, is how the queer gaze within 21st photography has been developed. Hooks unpacks that black women had to create an oppositional gaze to look away, close down critique, but also develop their own films that are representative of their truths. Hooks inserts a quote from Anne Friedber’s essay, A Denial of Difference: Theories of Cinematic Identification that states “identification can only be made through recognition, and all recognition is itself an implicit confirmation of the ideology of the status quo.” (Hooks 1992). I use this quote to support my argument that queer photographers have had to develop their own gaze within their imagery that stands apart from the politics of the male and female gaze. Through the queer gaze within the realms of photography, viewers challenge the politics of visability when concerning queer narratives that stand apart from the phallocentric narrative thats surround visual culture.

To further support this argument I will analyse the work of Zanele Muholi, whose images have the ability to shift one’s perception on gender, sexuality, and identity within visual culture. Zanele Muholi is one the most significant black gay photographers to come out of South Africa. Muholi has faced much backlash in South Africa due to the inequalities that exist in regards to queer politics. Specifically I will analyse the images titled, Beloved I, 2005 and Zinzi and Tozama II Mowbray, 2010.

*Zanele Muholi: Zinzi and Tozama II Mowbray, 2010*

In both of these black and white photographs we see two lesbian couples engaged in a moment of embrace. In Zinzi and Tozama II Mowbray, 2010 both women are gazing slightly away from the Muholi’s lens, but there is apparent comfortability shared between subjects and photographer which is evident from their expressions. In Beloved I, 2005 we see another moment of embrace, but both of the subject's gazes are absent leaving viewers to question if Muholi captured them in a way that feels that they are unwatched. One of the subjects is half nude, but the way Muholi has captured this stands apart from half nudity images derived from the male or female gaze. There is a different level of power in being seen that presented within Muholi’s images that marks a change in how queer women are viewed within photography.

There is a heavy layer of vulnerability present in these images given the subjects’ body language and expressions that Muholi is able to capture due to being an active member of the South African LGBTI community. Muholi quotes that, “I am hoping to break down these notions around what is to be seen and what is not. I want to encourage young artists to think of photography as a possibility, as work to think of art for consciousness, and in turn museums as spaces where we can carve a new dialogue that favours us.” (Jensen, 2017, p. 10) This quotes support my argument that there is queer gaze that has been developed within photography that is distinctive from the male and female gaze, with Muholi being one of the pioneers in developing the queer gaze in 21st photography.

To conclude, through analysing the images of William Klein, Lalla Essaydi, and Rania Matar there is enough evidence to support the argument that there is prevalent male gaze and female gaze present within the realm of photography. By dissecting these images, I am able to conclude that photographers have developed a multitude of subjective ways to navigate the political nature of the gaze within their imagery. As noted by Irene Visser in her article, Reading Pleasure: Light in August and the theory of the gendered gaze, “the gaze is not simply an act of vision, nor a literary strategy or device such as narrative perspective or point of view; nor can it ever be seen as neutral or non-judgemental.” (Visser, 1997 p. 277). Thus this exemplifies the ideology that within photography there is evident gaze within every image that may fall into the politics of the male or female gaze. Lastly, through examining the work of Zanele Muholi, I was able to conclude that there is another developed gaze produced from both examinations of the male and female gaze that works to highlight the queer gaze present within 21st century photography.

Sources:

Hooks, B. (1992) “Chapter 7: The Oppositional Gaze” in Black looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, pp. 115–131.

Eileraas, K. (2003 September) Reframing the Colonial Gaze: Photography, Ownership, and Feminist Resistance. The Johns Hopkins University Press, MLN, Vol. 118, No. 4, French Issue, pp. 807-840.

Visser, I (1997) Reading pleasure: Light in august and the theory of the gendered gaze, Journal of Gender Studies, 6:3, 277-287, DOI: 10.1080/09589236.1997.9960688

Andrew van der Vlies (2012) Queer knowledge and the politics of the gaze in contemporary South African photography: Zanele Muholi and others, Journal of African Cultural Studies, 24:2, 140-156, DOI: 10.1080/13696815.2012.697647

Ruggerone, L. (2006) “The simulated (fictitious) body: The production of Women's images in fashion photography,” Poetics, 34(6), pp. 354–369. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2006.10.005.

Krips, H. (2010) The Politics of the Gaze: Foucault, Lacan and Žižek, Culture Unbound, Volume 2, 2010: 91–102. Hosted by Linköping University Electronic Press: http://www.cultureunbound.ep.liu.se

Crossley, N. (1993). The Politics of the Gaze: Between Foucault and Merleau-Ponty. Human Studies, 16(4), 399–419. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20011017

Jansen, C. (2019) Girl on girl: Art and Photography in the age of the female gaze. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.

Berger, J. (1972) Ways of seeing. London: BBC and Penguin.

Image Sources:

William Klein: 'Nina and Simone', Piazza di Spagna, Rome, 1960: Photographs: Photographs (2012) Sotheby's. Available at: https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/photographs-2/william-klein-nina-and- simone-piazza-di-spagna

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1970) Collections. Available at: https://emuseum.mfah.org/objects/75726/converging-territories

Matar, R. (2022) Women coming of age , Rania Matar Photography. Available at: https://raniamatar.com/portfolio/women-coming-of-age/

Stevenson, M. (2005) Zanele Muholi, Michael Stevenson - Zanele Muholi. Available at: http://archive.stevenson.info/exhibitions/muholi/zinzi2.htm

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