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Essay

To what extent have cindy sherman and Claude Cahun explored the male (photographic) gaze in their work?

“In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously  looked at and displayed with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness” 

-Laura Mulvey

The male gaze. The term the male gaze is referring to Laura Mulvey’s feminist theory where she discussed how women are seen as objects for men’s visual pleasure. This is present within society however it is magnified through the media. A prominent example of it would have to be Marilyn Monroe specifically in River Of No Return from 1954 where the first few shots of her in the saloon focus purely on her body and then her seductively resting on the piano. Similarly, Tom Ford’s advertisement for their first male fragrance in 2007 featured a woman’s bare chest with a perfume bottle in between her cleavage and another with a perfume bottle placed in front of her groin. Its clear that the male gaze has been evident and used for many years and has not appeared to stop.

However, artists like Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman challenge these harmful stereotypes and portray a different perspective of the female experience. Cindy Sherman focused on identity, gender roles, and stereotypes. Similarly, Claude Cahun questioned identity and gender but they used aspects of surrealism in their work. I believe that their work and their message are still important, relevant, and still needed. I am exploring similar themes within my own work as I believe it is important to highlight the issue of the male gaze. I’m planning on showing this by creating cracked effect for the models faces. I want to use some of the usual conventions similar to what Cindy Sherman created however by creating this cracked makeup on my models face I’m hoping it can show her she is breaking from within and the objectification she’s facing is ultimately breaking her.

I believe feminism is such an important topic as the patriarchy affects everyone in society. Feminism tends to have a bad stigma around it which could be due to the lack of education around real feminism. Society has tainted the message of feminism many people think it centred around wanting women to be superior to men which is not the case. The first feminist movement (which can be considered the first wave of feminism) took place during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was centred around women’s suffrage and giving more opportunities to women as during that time women were seen as inferior to men, they weren’t able to have their bank accounts, they weren’t allowed to vote even after that law was lifted the only women who were married could vote as well as women of colour were still unable to vote whether they were married or not. There have now been around seven waves of feminism each one carrying on the previous message but improving it through new ways. For example, the main difference between third and fourth-wave feminism is fourth wave wants to focus more on technology and social media so spreading your knowledge and fighting through social media. However, very recently it appears that as a society we seem to be back peddling as of January 20th, 2025 Donald Trump is president of America once again and has been vocal about his opinion surrounding abortion rights. Women finally got the right to have control over what happens to their bodily autonomy in 1973. However, since President Trump has been elected people are scared that once again we will have these rights stripped away from us.

Due to this, we may see a resurgence in feminist art. It is said that feminist art started in the late 1960’s to the 70’s it was created to highlight and display the inequalities and the challenges that women were having to face at the time. Art was originally a male-dominated area as historically women were supposed to be caregivers, mothers, etc… Women didn’t often get the chance to attend art schools as men did. They also were not allowed to partake in more taboo styles of art like nude portraits as it was deemed inappropriate for women. In order for women to be able to create art they often had to be wealthy and get taught by other male family members. A great example of this would be Anna Claypoole both Anna and her sister were the first women elected academicians of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

A photographer who was renowned for their work centred around feminism and the male gaze would be Cindy Sherman. She rose to fame during the mid to late 1970’s with her “Untitled Film Stills” where she produced 70 black and white stills centred around her portraying these different characters. She produced a depiction of a working woman, a housewife, etc… This can be linked to Judith Butler’s ideas of Gender performativity where she discusses how gender is based on repetition and rituals within society. The idea that gender is not fixed but is unstable and the notion of gender that gets pushed on people during infancy is in fact a myth. Similarly, Cindy Sherman discusses how she took inspiration for her work from the phrase “male gaze” as she felt that the media only portrayed women from a heterosexual viewpoint and it tended to reduce women to being objects. You can see how this impacted her work as she tried to challenge these gender-driven stereotypes by not romanticizing or glorifying them and instead exposing them. She does this very successfully, her images tend to be quite simple and she is always the model which I believe makes it more effective as she always has the same quite flat and unreadable expression on her face in all the photographs making them appear a lot more superficial as you can not tell how the model/women within the image is feeling. I also think by Cindy Sherman being both the model and the photographer for her pictures I believe makes them more impactful as she has all the power in the situation, she isn’t affected by the male gaze which will often occur subconsciously or not because it is so heavily ingrained into society but because she can control every aspect she tried to prevent that.

For example, in image no. 10, Cindy is playing the ‘role’ of a traditional 20th century housewife. She is depicted crouching on the kitchen floor alongside a broken, spilled shopping bag. What Sherman achieves through this comment on female stereotypes is nothing less than protesting the traditional roles of women in that time period. Women in this era were restricted and categorized to act and be a certain way; cooking and cleaning for the kids and husband, and overall being the invisible ‘caretaker’ to what would’ve been an ungrateful family. This concept is solidified in her lack of direct address, her melancholic, distant gaze leaves the audience questioning her real personality; who she is behind the ‘role’ of a housewife. Visually you can tell she was inspired by the 20th century from her outfit to her hair and makeup which is effective for creating the atmosphere of the role she is meant to play as being a housewife was one of the only roles for women during the 20th century until a little later when the suffragette movement started to grow and women started to get into more occupation fields but it was only around 20% of all women at the time who were working.

Similarly, Claude Cahun is a great example of an artist who challenges harmful stereotypes and creates thought-provoking feminist photography. Even before creating they started to explore art and photography Cahun started to push the boundaries with feminism and gender during their childhood Claude Cahun delved into the idea of being non-binary and going by they/them pronouns which clearly influences their work today through their differing characters some presenting more masculine some more feminine. They tended to focus on gender and more specifically the fluidity of gender. Claude Chaun’s work is contradictory to Cindy Sherman’s work focuses on the stereotypes to challenge them instead Claude Cahun uses elaborate props and fashion to convey new a different ideas about gender. It is evident within their work that they stray far away from the male gaze all of their work appears to be quite androgynous and doesn’t fit the beauty standard. However, like Cindy Sherman all of Claude’s work are self-portraits so they’re taking away the power from the audience by being in control.

For instance, the image ‘I am in training don’t kiss me’ holds the title as one of Cahun’s most famous pieces of work. In the picture they have short hair, evident in how Claude makes a point of distancing herself from the male gaze and alongside it, the stereotype that women must have thick, long hair in order to be deemed attractive by society. Similarly Cahun appears to be holding a pantomime barbell which continues to challenge stereotypes as its often said that women should be dainty and delicate and not strong, powerful and capable to do the same things as men. Additionally, Claude’s facial expression holds power and significance. Specifically, in the direct address to the audience, Cahun comes across as very intimidating and, as a result, holds power over the viewer, positioning herself at a higher status. In addition, they wrote the title of the picture on their shirt which emphasises their message of “don’t kiss me” demonstrating that they don’t want to be sexualized through her photo.

Ultimately, both Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman have created incredible work which pushed against boundaries, challenged stereotypes, and helped advocate for change. Claude Cahun has effectively helped push the boundaries of gender and gender performativity, and Cindy Sherman challenged the harmful stereotypes which often suppress women. An aspect of both of their work that I am interested in exploring is their use of facial expressions in their photos. Both Cindy Sherman and Claude Cahun use quite deadpan facial expressions however, unlike Cindy Sherman, Claude Cahun uses direct address, which I find comes off as very powerful and demanding, so I would like to experiment with that within my work.

Photoshoot 6

Process

For this photoshoot I went into the studio, as I felt like my photobook would need some other images to add contrast; this is because most of my photos are portraits so by adding these additional filler images it will make my book appear less repetitive and more engaging.

I chose to use some ripped-up book pages and a piece of card with the face mask to create a cracked look on the model’s face. I did this to try and symbolise destruction and loss, just like I did with the models; to amplify and carry on with the ‘narrative’ that I am trying to tell whilst also using an alternative and more abstract way of showing destress, vulnerability etc…

Contact Sheet 1

Contact Sheet 2

Editing

The editing for these photoshoots was rather simple and fairly similar. The main aspects that I wanted to enhance and change was the highlights ,shadows, blacks and whites. I found this works best as it makes the image look sharper, the edges of the paper are a lot more emphasised this way. However, I did decrease the saturation slightly as a key aspect of my book I wanted was the further into the book you got the more desaturated it gets.

Similarly with the other set of photos I adjusted the whites, blacks etc… However, with some of the picture of the rocks you could see the sky and more of the background compared to the other photoshoot. This meant that I had to adjust the brightness for the background using the masking tool.

Final Images

Final Images

Evaluation

Overall, I’m quite happy with the pictures of the rocks because some of them were close-ups, meaning you can see many details in the different colours and textures. This is going to be very useful in my photobook as it’s adding a lot more variety. I also find that they link and can be related to the cracked ‘skin’ that I used on the models. However, for the picture of the water I wish I had used a faster shutter speed in order to get a clearer image of the water running as the ones I got came out slightly blurry due to the speed of the water and the lower shutter speed which I used.Similarly, I’m happy with how the book pages and the piece of card turned out. I tried to get multiple different angles when photographing the book pages, experimenting to see if I could create more depth within the photos. Which I think I successfully achieved by taking some of the photos from a lower angle additionally by using the lower angle it reveals more layers and textures which you couldn’t see from the higher, birds eye view which I also used.

Photoshoot 5

Process

For this photoshoot I wanted to focus specifically on sexual assault and harassment. I did this through creating handprints on the model. This was actually inspired by a movement originating in 2020 where sexual assault victims would paint a red handprint on their body where they were touched without consent and share their story/experience as a part of the hashtag ‘DenimDay’.

Contact Sheet

Editing

When editing something I wanted to focus on and emphasise was the darkness of the photos. I knew I wanted to place these images towards to back of my book which is where the more dramatically lit and intense photos would be found. This meant that I had to increase contrast, blacks and shadows in the photo however by just doing that it lost a lot of the details so I then increased the high and highlands to help make sharper lines.

Final Images

Evaluation

I’m extremely pleased with how this photoshoot came out. From a technical point of view potentially they could have been better by increasing the exposure in order to brighten up the picture. However, by doing that I felt it lost part of the intensity of the photo. The picture of the hand with the aged rose I think is my favorite from this shoot I used the rose to try and symbolise how objectification doesn’t only affect you internally but can start to manifest and affect other aspects of your life in the way you see things or interact with things.

Photoshoot 4

Process

For this photoshoot, I took inspiration from milk baths. I wanted to do this because they often represent purity and tranquillity. I try to create a similar effect in all my photoshoots by having this contrasting meaning of the broken and dispirited. I will use makeup to give texture to the model’s face, and then either the clothes I put the model in or, in this case, the background suggests concepts such as purity. I like adding these calming and dreamy aspects the pictures to emphasise the damage being done.

Contact Sheet

Editing

For these images when editing the one thing I do like to pay attention to and focus on would be the texture. For the concept of the story I’m trying to tell the cracking of the model’s face is a key component. Therefore, I like to make sure it’s as effective as possible. To emphaise this the key things I like to do is increase the contrast, shadows, highlights, and texture. I’ve found that increasing the shadows and highlights significantly amplifies both depth and details which is what I want.

Final Images

Evaluation

Overall, I’m not too happy with how the photo shoot came out I think I would have worked better using a bigger bathtub to have more space but I had to work with what I had access to. However, I do like the photo from the side angle where it focuses closer up to the model’s face I think it’s a little bit different compared to my other photos where they were all full face shots. I think what I could have done during the photo shoot to improve would have been to give my model more direction in terms of facial expressions and posing as I do like the photo where the model appears to be slowly submerging into the water facing straight towards to camera however I believe it would have worked much better if she had more of a deadpan facial expression.

Photoshoot 3

Process

For this photoshoot I went to Bon Qui this is because this location contains many different sections within it. This means I am able to go to the woodland area, rocky area and then the sea and have everything look more cohesive as variables like lighting will be the same due to the fact the photos will be taken within a short time frame. Similarly to my other photoshoots i will be using the Aztec face mask to create the cracking effect on my models face.

Contact sheet

Editing process

For this photoshoot I wanted to make the picture appear darker and have higher contrast levels. However when trying to achieve that it make the model appear too dark. Therefore, I used the mask tool in order to separate the model and the background so that I could darken the background without effecting her. By doing this i was able to create this eerie effect to the image.

Final images

Evaluation

Overall I’m pleased with how this photoshoot came out. I wish that I had spent a little bit more time in order to properly frame each shot in order to try and achieve more symmetry through the shoot. I think the images of the model on the rocks came out very successful what helped was the models facial expression, she appeared to have quite a serious and sombre look on her face. Similarly, the clothes that I put the model in were appropriate and did an excellent job of helping portray the message of the model representing purity and perfection. I really like the photos of the model emerging out of the water I think efficiently demonstrate the concept of someone being washed away spiritually. Additionally, the image of her walking into the water I wanted to represent her losing her self.

Statement Of Intent

For my project, I am focussing on the male gaze. However I’m not just going to show what that looks like, I want to show the effects it can have on women. I’m doing this because everyone’s heard about how objectification and the “male gaze” is wrong but that doesn’t seem to be enough. So hopefully by showing how being mistreated in that way can destroy someone from the inside the message will be more successful and impactful.

In order to show this, I’m planning on using makeup to show cracking on the model to try and symbolise her breaking down, I’ve kind of taken inspiration from percaline dolls and how they are an object and have cracked skin. so I’m trying to recreate that through the more woman are objectified the more the models starts to crack/break.

I’ve chosen this theme for the project because I feel these kinds of social issues are very relevant. One of the reasons for this is due to the recent US election where Donald Trump is now president once again and with this, he plans on banning abortions in the states. That action alone is starting to strip women of their rights. Although women now have a lot more rights compared to in the 1800’s it almost feels like we are taking a step back. Women are sexualized more than ever in the media.

I’m planning to present my work in a photo With that I find that presenting work in books tends to accentuate any flaws within the work. Therefore, I need to make sure I focus and take time considering my layout (rule of thirds, Fibonacci spiral). It will also be important to try and focus on lighting and weather this is because I wanted to do lots of photoshoots outside. Therefore different weather conditions will create very different vibes for the image.

I have a very specific way I would like to present/start the picture book. My first and last picture in the book will be from the same photoshoot to achieve a cyclical narrative style. I think this will be very effective for the storytelling of the projects and the contrast as you will be able to look back at the first page and see how much the model and changed and been destroyed as it may be subtle between each page but hopefully the change the first page compared to the last will be drastic.

Self Study Project: Observe Seek Challenge introduction

 

Observe Seek Challenge-

The theme of observe seek challenge I have linked it towards the idea of watching. whether that’s watching people or your surroundings. However I like the idea of almost being hyper aware.

I also like the idea of focusing on the male gaze. And how women are constantly being objectified whether that be in media or in life.

So I would like to combine both ideas and show the objectification of women and how it effects them on an emotional level.

I really like the idea of using clay and having this cracked effect as in my research I have seen lots of things like “the soul, mind, spirit, or invisible animating entity which occupies the physical body.” and  “a person might say that trauma has damaged a person’s psyche “so I thought slay would be a perfect way of trying to show someone’s emotion’s and how things can effect them and slowly start to break them.

I like the idea of showing the inside on the outside which is what South African artist Walter Oltmann choose to do. He was more inspired by the human body and he was famous for pieces like the Bleeder.

I think I would like to use makeup in order to try and show this I could potentially use some sort of clay to symbolise someone breaking but show it on the outside.


street photography photoshoot 1

For my first photoshoot, I went to St Malo where I was able to take my street photography. Henri Carter Bresson was my inspiration for this photoshoot so I tried to imitate his style so I focused on getting natural photos of people.

Henri Cartier Bresson inspired

In these photos I’m taking inspiration from Henri Cartier Bresson and how he will wait for the decisive moment. To be able to recreate his photos I waited in the same spot which I thought would create an interesting shot waited there until someone came by and tried to get a natural photo of them.

I found to get a similar feel to his work a lot of it came to the editing which you can tell from these images compared to the ones below In colour. Editing inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson was relatively simple I noticed that all his images as in black and white but they had a lot of contrast within them which he got through lighting. However, I was able to achieve that due to it being cloudy so I had to create that through editing.

People

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These images are very similar to the ones above however for these I stuck to the idea of waiting for the decisive moment but I didn’t turn them black and white like Henri Carter Bresson. I preferred this because I felt erasing the colour took a lot of the life and the personality out of the image. Because of it only being a snapshot of someone we don’t find out much about the person especially if the photo is in black and white, clothes, for example, can show a lot about someone if they wear eccentric brightly coloured clothes it can show that they maybe have this big personality which I like to see in photos like these.

Overall I’m quite happy with how this photoshoot came out. Although it was more of a difficult photoshoot to do as I had to find a spot that I found would make for an interesting spot and then have to wait for someone to come by but also having to make sure the lighting was right so it was overexposed or underexposed. This was something I had to focus on as different photos required very different settings for example the ones where the person was walking the shutter speed would have to be a lot quicker in order to get a good quality image out of it however for the photos of the people standing still I would then have to change the setting as it wasn’t going to be the same. My favorite image would the the woman in pink I found that setting in the street to be very good for trying to focus on one person but also having there be lots of people around. By using a busy location It meant I was able to get try and get a more interesting background to the image and then the main object within the picture I would have to try and frame so they would stand out the most. Although it wasn’t as busy as I had hoped I found this person worked well as she was wearing a partially bright and monochrome outfit which did make her stand out within a crowd.

Architecture

Although I was focusing on Henri Carter Bresson I also did want to take some photos where I focus on the architecture in St Malo.

I really liked this image above I found this interesting wall down one of the lanes where it had been heavily graffitied but on the side of it was a drain which worked well in my favor. When looking down from this angle the drain acts like a divide almost as if it is two images stuck together.

For this photo tried to use the pillars within the architecture to frame the picture as it was a beautiful building however the greenery within the middle open part really brightened up the image. The building itself is quite monitored with just the natural beiges of the brick which was used however having all the plants in the middle I found it added a lot more dimension to te image and it also made it more unique as it’s not something done very often or not to this degree.

Review And Reflection

Anthropocene-

Anthropocene-

The idea of the current time period and how its very human-influenced

I focused on overpopulation and showing the busy streets of town .Although I do like how this photoshoot came out in the end I didn’t take much enjoyment out of it nor do I think its some of my stronger work.

Landscapes-

Landscapes-

The idea of taking photos of an area of land which is often seen as having an aesthetic appeal

I quite liked this photoshoot I found myself experimenting a lot more with this photoshoot than I do with most. I think I have got some good work within this topic but I don’t think its my best work.

Femininity vs Masculinity-

Lauren Withrow inspired-

I really enjoyed this photoshoot I found that taking photos of a model in more of a nature environment is something I enjoy because I can incorporate parts of the landscape within the photo. I think I could do a lot more with this idea and expand on it.

Robert Mapplethorpe inspired-

I really enjoyed this photoshoot I also think it was very successful. I enjoyed being in the studio with the model and trying out different techniques and doing slightly more abstract photos rather than normal portraits.

Portraits

Lighting-

Similarly I really enjoyed being in the studio and playing around with different lighting techniques. I think some of the photos came out really well whereas some other not as much but i still think it was a successful shoot.

Narrative and Sequence

Process

The process of making the zine-

The first thing was to try and select the images I wanted which was easy i loved the idea of using all close ups of different materials and tools which are so common ion the harbour.

Then after those have been selected and edited I just printed them out so I could start making a physical draft. All that I had to do for that was fold four pieces of paper in half to create the “booklet” and then cut up the images I printed out earlier. Once that was done all I needed to figure out was the order of my pictures, whether I wanted them so its one on each page or have some pages with multiple images and what’s going to go next to what.

The process of making the zine-
The first thing was to try and select the images in which wanted to use, which was easy. I loved the idea of using close-ups of different materials and tools, which are so common in the harbor.
After those have been selected and edited I just printed them out so I could start making a physical draft. All that I had to do for that was fold four pieces of paper in half to create the “booklet” and then cut up the images I printed out earlier. Once that was done all I needed to figure out was the order of my pictures, whether I wanted them one on each page or have some pages with multiple images and what was going to go next to what.

My Images

My Story

3 words– details ,industry, colour

A sentence-Close ups of St Helier’s harbour, the tools and equipment which makes this industry possible.

A paragraph– The concept behind my work and this story is to try and make known what goes on in the harbor as it’s such a key part of Jersey’s history. I want to show tools and objects that are used as they will all have their own job/use and without them, the job probably wouldn’t be possible. Their equipment can be seen as an extension of how we manipulate and change our environment.