Seeing & Being Seen
“Seeing comes before words”, John Berger once said. In fact, as our strongest sense, our ability to see informs everything we know about the world, which we then diligently put down into words. When we look at art, we are not simply seeing through the eyes of the artist, we are contextualising about the greater picture in which the artwork was framed which includes everything from its history down to where it is exhibited and through which medium it is shown. The artwork is a lens through which we can see that which we could not discern before; a powerful lens, both micro and macroscopic through which to see through. Yet, it is not only our ability to see, that informs and constructs our world, but also our ability to be seen.
Women & The Art World
The art world, for far too long, has had an actively exclusionary agenda with regards to female representation. Sure, women made it into the most prestigious galleries, but only as the subjects of the artist and only to be objectified by the scrutiny of the gallery’s audience – seldom as the artists themselves. To this day, despite 66% of applications to postgraduate studies in the creative arts and design sectors in the UK being by women, only 32% of artists represented by London’s main galleries were female. On top of this, according to a study led by The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, as of 2019, women globally accounted for 12% of directors working in the top 100 grossing films but only 2% as cinematographers. This is not surprising, given that, for example, the American Society of Cinematographers only admitted their first female Director of Photography in 1980. Lastly, but certainly not for lack of statistical data, despite 80% of photography graduates being women, only 15% become professional photographers and of those 15% who make it, their earnings, on average, are 40% lower than those of their male counterparts. The numbers do speak for themselves: ironically, for a world forged around the idea of seeing and being seen, very few women are given the opportunity to be noticed and recognised.
From Representation to Dialogue
Hundred Heroines, born upon the cusp of the 100th anniversary of the women’s right to vote in the UK, marks a decisive turning point and one that finally sets to frame women both behind and in front of the lens often obscured by institutional patriarchy. Since the turn of the 20th century, art moved away from its figurative or mimetic roots and, rather than looking outwardly to the natural world, turned in on itself, beginning to question its very integrity, its role, in other words: its identity. Who is the artist and what exactly is art? Since then, art has come to signify more than just aesthetic form or style to become something bigger than the canvas, reproduced print or gelatin silver film. Arthur Danto called it ‘the end of art’ but don’t be fooled by its attention-grabbing title; Danto’s theory of aesthetics isn’t about the dissolution of art, but of the birth of a different kind of art, called an ‘artworld’, in which art grew closer to philosophy, and thus to theory rather than to practice. An artwork is now the medium through which we not only impart our subjective world-view but also contextualise on the wider issues afflicting society. Art is not merely something we look at but something we can look through to see the world in a different way. Art as a dialogue rather than mere representation.
From Feminism to Intersectionality
Unfortunately, for far too long, we have been condemned to seeing the world through the male gaze, that act of looking, coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey, that doesn’t seek to broaden its horizons to multiplicity and diversity but rather settles for the status quo defined by the heteronormativity of institutions, governing bodies and practices run by men. Nowadays, the role of institutions is not just about putting women in the spotlight, it is about fulfilling one of art’s now recognised roles: that of aiding us towards novel, exciting and critical ways of seeing ourselves and the world around us. How can art be representative if women, POC and queer artists don’t figure both behind and infront of the artistic lens? The fundamental epistemic role of art, and by de facto, of its artists is one that has been greatly underestimated in the past but that can now, via the reframing of its medium and, most importantly, of its message, be made known worldwide. Art as a tool not merely for self-expression and catharsis but as a medium through which one can learn a new message, take home a new point of view and, for a moment, become this ‘other’ previously regarded as the unknown. Hundred Heroines functions both as a platform to finally give female artists the opportunity to present themselves to the world and as a medium through which to present the feminine gaze. The feminine gaze, needn’t be reduced to biological sex – in fact, this gaze has little to do with gender and a lot more to do with our behaviours and the way we perform our idea of sexuality and creativity. It is not merely a term used to showcase art created by women, but rather a terminology that accommodates a feminist, intersectional and accomodating point of view. In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, the way we see is filtered through the lens of the passive female versus the active male, the object and the subject, the submissive and the dominant. The feminine gaze asks to re-frame and disassociate the way we conflate gender with sexuality and creativity. By rejecting the biological essentialism behind art, we open our minds to the exploration of a world of power, submission and creativity as seen through the lens of performativity. The feminine gaze doesn’t necessarily question who we are but who we want to be.
Hundred Heroines & the Future of Art
Moving forward, it is imperative for institutions to further the discourse on inclusivity and diversity in the art world. Platforms like Hundred Heroines will continue to advance, advocate and expand this dialogue in order to make art more accessible to women but also to increase the public’s knowledge of two artforms, that of photography and film, too often associated with the male gaze. Hundred Heroines picks up after the shattered remains of institutional patriarchy and all the galleries that, for centuries, failed to recognise inclusivity by giving artists previously unnoticed or underrepresented an opportunity not only to see but finally, also, to be seen.
By Gabriella Gasparini
