Laura Mulvey
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Shoot 1/some ideas for my study
I feel like these images relate to the beauty within females in our society. They reflect confidence and power, showing women that we are strong and beautiful. Out of the 100 photos we took I managed to narrow it down to two images that are my favourite. This is because its pin pointing the beauty of this particular female.
These images are just the start of showing female and feminist poses to attract attention and
Statement of Intent
What you want to explore?
I want to explore the theme of misogyny, feminism, how men expect us to act and want us to act. How women are objectified and men are passive, women are active. John Berger said “Men act women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” This quote means so much more than what it says. He is trying to say that women are self-conscious because of men and have to act a certain way or will be looked down on. Men can make women feel uncomfortable, with things that happen daily such as cat calling, sexual harassment and all these things relate to the quote as women have to put up with the horrors from these men even in the 20th century. This could be raising awareness for women and could help them as its focussing on the points that need to change. Cindy Sherman explored the theme of stereotype and how women are portrayed in the 1970s which is why I also will speak about her and be referencing her in my project.
Why does it matter to you?
This area matters to me because its about raising awareness about women that have been going through this for centuries. Women are sexualised, objectified and treated like nothing. There is domestic abuse ,rape, violence, misogyny, a patriarchal society and so much more. However speaking about these issues can bring a light to these issues and could get some women to speak up in case they’re scared or maybe could change society bit by bit. I like speaking about issues especially when it could make change and make women feel comfortable enough to speak up about it.
How you wish to develop your project?
I will develop my project by exploring the complex and deeply interconnected themes of misogyny, rape culture, and feminism through the lens of visual storytelling. I aim to use photography as a view to see harmful stereotypes and raise awareness about the lived experiences of women. I plan to experiment with various photographic techniques, such as portraiture, landscape photography, and symbolic imagery, to create emotional and psychical work that sparks conversation. My goal is not only to highlight the core of these horrific issues but also to empower individuals to engage with them and try to speak up. This could change social justice and equality as women have go through a lot which I don’t like and I think its not fair.
Here is some of the images that I am inspired by and want to do similarly to this.
When and where do you intent to begin your study?
I plan to do this by investing women’s beauty and misogyny etc, How do beauty standards shape women’s identities?.. Looking at artists like Cindy Sherman because her work will help you understand the relationship between women, identity, and representation. afterwards I would develop a question to explore, such as: “How can photography challenge conventional beauty ideals?” or “What does true female beauty look like beyond societal standards?” This could be done at home, friends home, beach, town centre, harbour, in a car, public, in bathroom with the shower running (with steam). These places are places I’m thinking of and hopefully will inspire women by starting off in a home, reflecting women I will choose settings that feel personal or empowering. I would use the tecqinues: portraiture and self-portraiture to explore both personal and societal views of women. Experiment with lighting and composition to create different moods, emphasizing various aspects of female identity. Focus on authentic representation by capturing real moments. In my images I would need to use symbolism like mirrors, clothing, or makeup, to comment on the construction of beauty. Include women of different ages, body types, and ethnicities. This is to either to highlight or challenge beauty norms. For these images I would be using a range of different editing tools, suck as photoshop Lightroom and I would be using various colours such as black and white or colour choices to enhance the emotional tone of your work. Subtle edits, like adding textures or layers. However by doing all of this I would still need to make sure and consider how it questions societal norms and contributes to the conversation about female representation to be able to try and make a change.
Plan – Feminism, Female Identity, and Beauty
Feminism, Female Identity, and Beauty
- Research & Concept
Investigate how photography reflects and challenges themes of feminism, beauty, and female identity. Key questions to explore include: How do beauty standards shape women’s identities? How can photography break traditional representations of women? Look at artists like Cindy Sherman, Francesca Woodman, and Laura Zalenga for inspiration. Their work will help you understand the relationship between women, identity, and representation. - Personal Theme
Develop a central question to explore, such as: “How can photography challenge conventional beauty ideals?” or “What does true female beauty look like beyond societal standards?” - Techniques
Use portraiture and self-portraiture to explore both personal and societal views of women. Experiment with lighting and composition to create different moods, emphasizing various aspects of female identity. Focus on authentic representation by capturing real, unposed moments that move away from stereotypical beauty standards. - Visual Style & Symbolism
Use symbolism in your photos, like mirrors, clothing, or makeup, to comment on the construction of beauty. Include women of different ages, body types, and ethnicities to reflect the variety of female experiences and challenge narrow beauty ideals. - Photo Shoot Planning
Focus on photographing diverse female subjects to reflect a range of identities. Choose settings that feel personal or empowering, like home, nature, or urban spaces. Be intentional with clothing and makeup, either to highlight or challenge beauty norms. - Editing
Keep editing minimal to preserve authenticity, but consider using black-and-white or color choices to enhance the emotional tone of your work. Subtle edits, like adding textures or layers, can help reflect the complexity of female identity. - Reflection
Reflect on how your photos address themes of feminism and beauty. Consider how your work questions societal norms and contributes to the conversation about female representation. - Conclusion
Conclude by summarizing how your work adds to the dialogue around women’s identity, beauty, and empowerment.
Herr are the top 3 artists at the top.
I plan to do this by investing women’s beauty and misogyny etc, How do beauty standards shape women’s identities?.. Looking at artists like Cindy Sherman because her work will help you understand the relationship between women, identity, and representation. afterwards I would develop a question to explore, such as: “How can photography challenge conventional beauty ideals?” or “What does true female beauty look like beyond societal standards?” This could be done at home, friends home, beach, town centre, harbour, in a car, public, in bathroom with the shower running (with steam). These places are places I’m thinking of and hopefully will inspire women by starting off in a home, reflecting women I will choose settings that feel personal or empowering. I would use the tecqinues: portraiture and self-portraiture to explore both personal and societal views of women. Experiment with lighting and composition to create different moods, emphasizing various aspects of female identity. Focus on authentic representation by capturing real moments. In my images I would need to use symbolism like mirrors, clothing, or makeup, to comment on the construction of beauty. Include women of different ages, body types, and ethnicities. This is to either to highlight or challenge beauty norms. For these images I would be using a range of different editing tools, suck as photoshop Lightroom and I would be using various colours such as black and white or colour choices to enhance the emotional tone of your work. Subtle edits, like adding textures or layers. However by doing all of this I would still need to make sure and consider how it questions societal norms and contributes to the conversation about female representation to be able to try and make a change.
Artist Reference 2
Laia Abril
Laia Abril (born 1986) Abril was born in 1986 in Barcelona, Spain, is a Catalan artist whose work relates to bio-politics, grief and women’s rights. She won the PhotoBook festival in Kassel and the PhotoEspaña Best Book Award. Her books include The Epilogue (2014), which documents the indirect victims of eating disorders; and a long-term project as seen down below.
A History of Misogyny
- Chapter Two: On Rape
- Chapter One: On Abortion
- Genesis Chapter: On Mass Hysteria
- Menstruation Myths
- Feminicides
On Eating Disorders
On Sexuality
&
Here are some of her images.
Laia Abril’s Misogyny is a powerful exploration that confronts the enduring issue of gender-based violence and the horrific things women go through. Abril goes into the nature of misogyny, shedding light on its harmful impact on women and how it can affect them. However she is trying to challenge this misogynistic attitude and shape individual lives. Abril’s approach is deeply personal, as she captures not only the physical harm and deception of violence but also the psychological scars left by the hate.
Her work engages with silence that some women have to do, such as a domestic abuse relationship that which is not shown in the media but is present in the lives of women. Abril’s photography often uses symbolism and conveys an message, always. For example the silencing of a women’s voices in patriarchal systems. The intimacy of her portraits and the message she tries to convey emphasizes the complexity of misogyny.
By confronting the world with harsh truth that no one wnats tp hear, Abril wnats us to look at gender inequality, abortion and all the probelms we a swomen face etc…
Through Misogyny, Abril uses photography as a tool for artistic expression but also as a means of social activism, using the camera to bring silenced voices and hidden stories to light. Her work therefore tells us so much about women’s life.
My favourite image
This is my favourite image because its an image that you could argue shows a women “suffering in silence”. She looks drained and almost as if she is going though a rough time. This image is in black and white which apposes that she is going through some sort of barging or depression as its a dull colour and that’s what you would relate these colours with. She is clearly a feminist and has a very strong opinion on what and how women suffer. Women Suffer In Silence! which is the sad truth of reality. I love how she is one of the only women who will speak upon it and isn’t shy about the horrors. Abril is a strong independent women who isn’t scared to speak on the harsh truth.
Her books
Laia Abril is a powerful voice in contemporary photography, using her work to explore complex social issues, particularly those affecting women. Through her books she attaches themselves too so many issues such as rape, abortion etc. Abril goes into themes of trauma, gender inequality, and the unseen struggles women face. Her intimate yet unapologetic approach to storytelling has a profound impact, encouraging a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of women today. Abril’s ability to blend personal narratives with broader social commentary makes her work not only a visual experience but a call for empathy and change, empowering women to reclaim their stories and challenge societal norms.
Women today continue to face deep-rooted challenges, such as misogyny. This remains widespread, everyday in discrimination, verbal abuse, and gender violence. Many women still struggle against social expectations and stereotypes (norms) that dictate how they should look, act, and live. Despite progress in gender equality, issues like sexual harassment, assault, and rape continue to haunt women, leaving emotional, physical, and psychological trauma. In many places, women are still denied equal rights in education, work, and politics, and their voices are often silenced, such as Afghanistan – the Taliban. The pressure to meet beauty standards, combined with the constant threat of violence, creates an environment of fear and low self-esteem.
Artist Reference
Who is Cindy Sherman and what did she do?
Cindy Sherman was born in 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey; she lives and works in New York. American artists who came to artistic maturity and critical recognition during the early 1980s.
Cynthia Morris Sherman is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. She is based around and the misogyny women have to go through, even in 2024 – the present day. Women are stereotyped and shamed upon for this stereotypical way that women need to cook and clean whilst the man goes to work. I think that Sherman tries to show this within her images of photography, here are some of Sherman’s images.
She photograph’s very feminine women. She shows elements of sexual desire and domination, the fashioning of self-identity as mass deception. Sherman recognizes those fixed identity concepts surrounding women, suggesting the possibility of women’s self-authorization in reality (self esteem).
This is done by By dressing up, posing, and photographing herself in different scenarios, Sherman effectively critiques the way women are portrayed in popular media. These images challenge the viewer to question their preconceived notions about identity and the roles society imposes upon women.
How does this relate to observe, seek & challenge?
This is particularly for Sherman’s elaborately “disguised” self-portraits that comment on social role-playing and sexual stereotypes. Sherman is trying to make a move and a change into women’s lives within her images. Images have a message, they are not just a picture. Especially when they are for the good.
One of my favourite images that Sherman took. This is because of the stereotypical change Sherman’s trying to make. The type of lighting id black and white, imitating that the image was taken in the early 1900s. The white balance is cool/cold which I really like in an image. There is deep historical and a connection to Sherman’s work which is this huge male misogyny and what women have to go through i.e. cat calling, women have to go through, whereas men get away with it and women “have to suffer in silence”. Even in 2024 some women are scared to leave the house at night but Sherman is trying to raise awareness for that.
Similarly, another one of Sherman’s images is one of her on the kitchen floor, cleaning and doing chores’ – once again you could assume this is for a man with kids. Which doesn’t just have thought but also the essence of the work itself. This image has low exposure for the shutter speed, the ISO is high light sensitivity and the white balance is cold temperature. Sherman is sitting down the floor, almost looking tired from doing so much. Each of her images have value and the deeper you go the deeper meaning each image has. The tone of Sherman’s image is dark (black and white) which you could say shows a sense of depression. The rule of thirds is in her images too you could argue.
Comparing both images
However comparing both images, you can see that they both rely deeper meaning within the image about women’s historical views such as equality and equal pay, women’s rights and women being able to vote. In 2024 you see a lot less of Using intimidating or humiliating behaviour to destroy a woman’s self-confidence and undermine her. Discriminating against women, for example a woman is not offered a job that she is qualified for because she is a woman or it is assumed that a woman can’t do something because she is a woman from what you would see back then which is why I love Sherman’s products as she projects issues from so long ago and is trying to make awareness just with a photograph. They are both in B&W of a “stereotypical” beautfuil housewife.
Observe, seek and challenge. Mind map and Mood board
Review and Reflect
Portraits
In my opinion I think that my favourite project was when I did portraits, here are some of my images that I took and analysed, edited too.
Portraits can contain an individual or multiple subjects. At a minimum, the subject is captured from their head to their shoulders, but many artists enjoy telling a story with the whole body. Before the advent of photographs, the most accurate way to preserve the visual essence of somebody was in a portrait picture.
The lighting of each of my pictures are so different, some of them appear to be a natural daylight image whereas the others appear saturated and toned down. I love this project because you can show so many different versions of people and you are able to position lights and people in so many different ways whether it looks staged or not. There is a range of aperture but with the darker, my personal favourite ones they are more of a blurred aperture. The shutter speed seems to differ from image top image but for the darker it is underexposed but it does vary even with the editing. (The brighter images are overexposure). Lastly the ISO and white balance is high sensitivity and cool temperature for the darker, edited cooler images which I used for my mock exam.
I enjoy doing portraits because its such a popular form of photography used by everyone day to day and its a beautiful form of art. It show history and I love the way it shows you so much about people, shows their beauty and it tells a story just within a picture. It can show everything from culture to religion.
The visual elements’ of portraits and the one – the tones are light and dark, there is almost a constant pattern of repetition within the poses and the face symmetry. I made one image upside down and edited it on light room, highering the contrast and colours etc.
Cindy Sherman
I am really inspired by her images.
Cindy Sherman began her career in the late 1970s, she posed as various female characters. Her work challenges traditional representations of women in media and art, making her a key figure in contemporary photography and feminism.
Cindy Sherman is famous for her self-portraits that really make us think about what it means to be a woman. In her photos, she transforms into different characters, showing how women are often viewed in a parochial society. It’s an interesting way to reflect on your own identity and how you see yourself. Sherman’s images challenge stereotypes, by using costumes and makeup, she shows that identity isn’t fixed; it can change and evolve. In today’s world of social media, her work makes us think about how we represent ourselves and what’s real. Looking at Sherman’s art can help young people understand themselves better which could help with self esteem and maybe even things people go through… It’s a powerful reminder that everyone’s story is unique and everyone matters no matter who you are.
I could start my personal study based on her with some of my images relating to hers – here is some examples!
Conclusion
I love the idea behind these images and the messages they portray and this is why I want do something like this. The essence of work means so much to females and could be a big move in the 20th century. The ideas in this idea of a project are aesthetic and all com together. This is why its an amazing idea for someone like me to do my personal study base on this.
Mirrors&Windows
What are the difference’s between photograph’s that are mirrors or windows?
Mirrors have an element of candid and naturalistic.
Mirrors:
- Subjective (open to interpretation)
- Reflects artist
- Reflections
- View into your own life
- Manipulated
- Synthetic
- Personal
“A mirror – a romantic expression of the photographers sensibility as it projects itself on the things and sights of this world; or as a window- through which the exterior world is explored in all its presence and reality” – JOHN SZARKOSKI 1978 “is it a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it or a window, through which one might better know the world” JOHN SZARKOSKI 1978. This is essentially saying that mirrors reflect the society we are in and can reflect a lot about us and how we do things. “Mirrors” are photographs through which a photographer is trying to tell us how he feels about himself. The study of texts that reflect their own identities, experiences and motivations. They also provide insight into the identities, experiences and motivations of others
Windows protect us (public). They have elements of reality, subjectivity and there’s this element between objectivity vs subjectivity when it comes to mirrors and windows. “Windows” are those in which he is trying to tell us how he feels about the world. For the former, only sincerity will do.
Windows:
- Objective (not open to interpretation)
- Outside world
- Documents
- Real
- Public
Binary Opposites
Inside / Outside
Subject / Object
Staged / Candid
Fiction / Non-Fiction
Image Analysis
These are all elements within photography and how exactly you could frame a window and mirror shoot. Inside and outside to show life and what people can do in their day to day life. (objectivity and subjectivity) which focuses on one pin point or multiple things which could be anything to outside world or just one person in a room. Staged such as Cindy Sherman pictures, staged female to allude to a stereotypical women with kids cleaning, whereas a mirror image is much more candid and natural such as capturing the beauty of the nature which also follows along the lines of fictional or non fiction which you could factor in for both mirrors and windows, it could be fake or real (stage or candid). Last but not least, imagery analysis is the extraction of meaningful information from images. How and why you go to were you are – could you elaborate on this? That is all about image analysis.
The idea of photographs functioning like windows makes total sense. Like the camera viewfinder, windows frame our view of the world. We see through them and light enters the window so that we can see beyond. Photographs present us with a view of something. However, it might also be possible to think of photographs as mirrors, reflecting our particular view of the world, one we have shaped with our personalities, our subconscious motivations, so that it represents how our minds work as well as our eyes. The photograph’s glossy surface reflects as much as it frames. Of course, some photographs might be both mirrors and windows.
A window is a resource that offers you a view into someone else’s experience. A sliding door allows the viewer to enter the story and become a part of the world. A mirror is a story that reflects your own culture and helps you build your identity.
Photo-historian, Gerry Badger who was part of the editorial team producing the television series The Genius of Photography wrote in the introduction of the book of the same name that John Szarkowski’s distinction of photographs as ‘mirrors’ or ‘windows’ is useful, but only to a point, ‘because most photographs are both mirrors and windows.’ (Badger 2007:8)
Virtual Gallery
