The act of changing ideas through the creation and analysis of female self-portraiture

This chapter discusses female self-portrait photographers that tackle subjects within their work that aren’t directly opposing the male gaze and if they are important in changing the viewpoint of male gaze in photography and opposing the ruling ideology of heteronormativity. The one who is in control over the camera is directing the output of the image and holds the final decision over how the photograph portrays. With a female behind the camera, taking images of her own body, it begs the question whether she can objectify and enforce the male gaze when the power and control isn’t passed onto someone else. This action of taking a self-portrait means the subject and photographer is no longer viewing themselves as the symbolic object for the opposite sex as she is removing the act of voyeurism involving the opposite sex, thus removing the patriarchal unconscious from the image as previously discussed in the first chapter.

The first photographers work that will begin this chapter is Ziqian Liu. Her self-portraiture work is faceless to a certain degree and focuses on her personal relationship between her body and nature. Her work is mainly focused on her body and yet her form isn’t sexualised within these partial nudes. She manages to create self-portraiture on her body without objectification. In an interview (on Beyond Photography) Liu talks about how her work addresses “self-expression” and “communication” [21]. Self-Portraiture can be used for different purposes, it can be for relaying a message, but it can also be used to work out personal emotions, meaning that it is possible that this work is created without the intention of displaying being the intended purpose.

Fig.6 is a photograph from the series “Skin” (Ziqian Liu 2020) [22]. The word skin is often commonly associated with lust and impurity. However, Liu challenges these connotations within her photographs, creating an image that promotes innocence and femininity through her vulnerability and authenticity. Fig.6 shows a body that is heavily sexualised, the classical hourglass figure and flawless looking skin however, in the image it shows nothing more than just a body rather than a ‘nude’ photograph. The subtle white background hinting towards innocence creates a calmness for the viewer. Plants suggesting new life with the subject matter being of a female body it creates a photograph celebrating life rather than creating imagery that is intended for male appreciation. Although this photograph’s purpose is not to challenge an oppressive ruling ideology it allows a viewer to understand a self-portrait through the perspective of a female in modern society that is celebrating the connection she holds with nature and her body rather than exhibiting it for voyeuristic function. Though this photograph does not challenge heteronormative standard views of female bodies for its purpose of creating life it doesn’t necessarily need to hold this purpose as it forms different perspectives in photography as an art form to how a female body can be captured.

 Izumi Miyazaki is a female self-portrait photographer that focuses on surrealism. Using surrealism, she captures her perspective on the world while adding a fantastical touch through the editing process. Surrealism, as aforementioned, provides a narrative through a non-verbal manner and allows the viewer to see the image through interpretation as Bourdieu suggests [7]. While analysing Miyazaki’s photography the intention is to understand the purpose of relaying a habitus. “What is (romance) Love” (Izumi Miyazaki 2020) [23] is the collection that Fig.7 belongs to. The context behind this work explores the photographers own unsteady relationship with love after being exposed to forms of media, such as music, throughout her life. Sexual and romantic love are valued differently in society, heteronormative relationships have been idealised through many different cultures and has been recognised throughout the medium of photography. However, the complexity of the female perspective of love is one hardly mentioned. Although Miyazaki is using photography to work through her emotions with love it, in turn, also relays a female perspective of portrayal in media.

 Miyazaki’s intention wasn’t to challenge the male gaze, however in Fig.7 her use of self-portraiture reflects that the ruling ideology may be changing through photography. Fig.7 does not contribute to harmful implications of the male gaze, thus not defending even if not outwardly criticising. Surrealist editing on this photograph allows for the image to portray the message without the need to comply to societal norms by airbrushing the skin and removing female facial hair or the skin tone being uneven, this also not being the focal point of the photograph creates an intentional choice not to conform to the male gaze. Having female self-portrait photographs that don’t aim to oppose the male gaze is important to introduce a normalcy around creating images not intended to gratify a male audience. Photographs such as this allow for more creative direction within the art form by showing different perspectives. Miyazaki produces work for commercial environments that follow a similar process of work, confirming that mindsets within the industry are adapting to introducing a female gaze.

 Another female photographer that creates work around surrealistic self-portraits is Brooke DiDonato. Using staging and self she often uses domestic space to create work about her relationship with home, not only as a sense of comfort but as somewhere that can be filled with instability (Agence Vu’) [24] . In Aesthetica magazine DiDonato’s photography is described as “uncanny” [25] . This ties into Baudrillard and simulacrum, creating an imitation of self and creating a divide between enforcing harmful stereotypes and breaking them. In her images she often presents herself as part of the furniture, allowing the viewer to objectify her in this scenario. This solidifies the idea of a woman being vital to the workings of a home. DiDonato isn’t said to have the intention of using the male gaze in her images as her work is about the relationship she has with her connection to home; however, links can be seen Fig.8 22 throughout the photographs to the impacts of a ruling ideology that promotes a division of labour within a nuclear family setting. Fig.8 shows a trapped female character surrounded by clean dishes and walls painted in pink. This photo shows nudity in a way that doesn’t invite sexualisation, as if she is a part of the display but not human. This explores connection with surroundings, showing she feels attachment to the home. Creating self-portraiture allows for vulnerability especially in this subject matter, allowing the gaze to be from a female perspective. As the work isn’t tackling male gaze it can be criticised as to providing a platform for voyeurism in photography, especially with the subject facing away from the camera, even though this wasn’t the original purpose of the image. The anonymity of this photograph gives consent to the viewer to observe, creating a character that may be only seen for the body and not for their identity.

There is great importance to the increase of female photographers that have a platform in the professional world of photography. Female self-portrait photographers create awareness to how the viewpoints of the modern day is changing, allowing more freedom of speech and increasingly equal division of labour. Self-portrait photographs have the power over how they wish to be portrayed, this involves how edited these pictures are, from adding to the narrative to simply not airbrushing features. However, subject matter for these photographs do have importance as it should be careful not to enforce harmful behaviours such as allowing voyeurism. These creators, although not directly creating work with the subject of the male gaze, still hold relevance to the effect they hold on the industry in terms of moving away from normalcy of heteronormative standards and forming a new dominant ideology.