Degree Show 2023
Macy Yaniv
BA Art and Design
Questioning whether the male gaze is inescapable within contemporary society, this project analyses the ways in which it is engrained within modern- day civilisation. Through art, film, photography, and literature, it is evident that societal conditioning has allowed the idea to receive such a high degree of normalisation that these perspectives are regarded as ordinary. The male gaze exists in many things that are experienced on a day-to-day basis, repeatedly demonstrated through films and media where women are oversexualized doing simple everyday tasks. My work aims to expose these harmful angles by revealing how demoralising and dehumanising the male gaze perspective can be by directly comparing how one thinks these hypersexualised advertisements make woman feel, versus how they really feel.
Drawing inspiration from Victoria’s Secret’s iconic Wonderbra campaign, these images capture the societal pressures placed on women, governing how they should look and behave while wearing clothing and lingerie deemed as the ultimate symbol of sexiness. They provide a thought-provoking contrast, presenting a more genuine and relatable depiction that counters the objectification experienced by women.
This video seeks to demonstrate how the patriarchal gaze diminishes women of representation and freedom to express their own body, depicting women as prisoners of male representation. In an attempt to involve the viewer as a participant in the performance, the video was arranged in an interview- style setting, creating an ambiance where the model looks engaged in a personal conversation with the observer. As the video progresses, the model is being instructed to remove her clothes, diminishing her identity, and subjecting her to objectification. The strategic utilization of eye contact and heightened agitation, paired with a gradual decrease in saturation, highlights the ramifications of the male gaze. This portrayal aims to show the feelings associated with being dictated how to appear, prompting a much-needed examination into gender power dynamic and control.