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Flor Linckens
5 x Female Gaze
A while ago, I spotted a new trend on Tiktok: short parody-type videos in which a woman moves with trembling bosom, reading a book in the bath while slowly licking her lips. #Writtenbyaman quickly became a trend, as it was all too recognizable for many women. In academic circles, people have been talking about the ‘male gaze’ in this context since 1975, when Laura Mulvey first coined the term in an essay on film. Naturally, this type of objectification of women — a kind of decorative Venus, seen through the eyes of a lustful man — has been visible in the art world for centuries. Now that there is more and more attention for women (and woman identifying) artists, we are presented with a more interesting, multifaceted picture of what a woman can be.
Jaimy Gail
0 Media items ᛫ 7 Available artworks
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When Dutch film director Paul Verhoeven released the film Benedetta last year — about a secret love between two nuns, a plot that sounds like the premise of a bad porno — he was quickly accused of offering a 'male gaze'. He replied that that term did not exist when he shot the film a year earlier. This photograph by Jaimy Gail is a lot more interesting in this respect. The problem with the male gaze mainly lies in the fact that the portrayed person is deprived of all power. You are open, exposed and decorative, and you have no control over how you are portrayed and looked at. This 'nun' by Jaimy Gail however has not surrendered any of her power. This photo clearly shows that the female gaze does not have to mean that the image is completely stripped of any form of sex and eroticism.
(GoMulan Gallery)
(GoMulan Gallery)
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The rebellious British artist Sarah Maple is known for her feminist works. This work is particularly striking, because Britney Spears has been sexualised herself from an early age. When she was sixteen, she was, in her own words, tricked into making the famous Rolling Stones cover and Dutch journalist Ivo Niehe asked the underage singer about her breasts on a television program. Here, we see her through Maple's eyes, in a painting that is somewhat reminiscent of a work by Frida Kahlo, one of Maple's sources of inspiration. In 2007, Britney's actions [in which she shaved her head in an act of desperation] were widely reported by the press, in a way that we would perceive in 2022 as disrespectful and sexist, just like the way Monica Lewinsky was portrayed in the media — and is now somewhat rehabilitated. Especially now, in the context of Free Britney, we look at Britney's life and actions with more compassion. Maple is fascinated by the ways in which women can lose control of their lives and bodies.
(Koch X Bos Gallery)
(Koch X Bos Gallery)
0 Media items ᛫ 9 Available artworks
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The often large-scale works by the Nigerian artist Tyna Adebowale show powerful, confident and defying figures, often against a background of monochrome colours. The figures themselves are made up of detailed black-and-white patterns — a jumble of lines and geometric shapes that can be quite dizzying up close. Adebowale shows quite a lot of pairs, which she explains as the result of being part of a twin herself. Her twin brother died young, but the artist still feels a deep bond with her brother, whom she considers to be her alter ego. Sometimes they merge in her work. Adebowale: “Me and my twin brother, me and my male side as one.” That gender fluidity characterises the artist, whose pronouns are she/her/dem. In her work, the body becomes a symbol for a number of deeply rooted topics, including gender and identity, queerness, (hetero)normativity and exclusion — especially the ways in which queer people, stories and histories have been represented.
(Ellen de Bruijne Projects)
(Ellen de Bruijne Projects)