Discuss this quote with reference to one work of art and one work from the contemprary media.
Hans Memling - Vanity,
'The Gaze' is often thought as the objection of women, making them an object within art as opposed to a subject of art, this reinforces the prescribed power given to me and the that they are allowed and/or supposed to look. As stated in Berger's quote above 'women appear' and this implies that it is fine for men to look at them, however the women in these works do not look at themselves but 'watch themselves being looked at.' In saying this Berger is reinforcing power of man as somebody that is entitled to look, by objectifying herself and letting herself be looked at the women is succumbing to the concept of ownership and mans control over woman. In Vanity the subject is holding a mirror and looking at herself and thus reflecting 'the gaze' and taking pride in her own presentation as something to be looked at, essentially this is confirming 'the gaze' as opposed to questioning it. Essentially I would argue that this picture not only represents the gaze but reinforces it in the way the subject is obviously watching herself and has no qualms with this.
Ryan McGinley - Lily (Black Eye) 2005
Here we have a photo by Ryan McGinley in which the subject is obviously a naked woman lighting a cigarette, upon closer inspection we can see that she has a black eye. It is obvious that she is appearing in a certain way however here it can be said that McGinley is challenging the idea of 'the gaze' as we are looking at her and find ourselves questioning the location and context of the image, not necessarily her nudity. One of the most important factors of this is the way she is looking, obviously she is avoiding eye contact and this implies that she knows she is being watched and thus is refusing to return 'the gaze', however the fact that she has a bruised eye is also a comment towards the gaze. Her facial expression and bruised eye imply that she is a victim, both of 'the gaze but also of something else, this may be from a friendly play fight that went wrong or could be something far more sinister but given the scenario we cannot tell. I feel this picture questions the role of 'the gaze' as the nudity of the subject is far less important then other aspects of the image, obviously the subject is aware she is being looked at but it is not for her nudity and thus it could be argued that this image would have the same affect be the subject a man or a woman.
looked at - presented
black eye, smoking, nude, location - set up scenario - presenting herself
showing she doesnt care- knows shes being looked at but dismisses this
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