Kyle Pangilinan -- Weekly Selfie 3 (Ana Mendieta)

 Ana Mendieta --- Imágen de Yágul (Image from Yagul) 1973

Recreation

This photo is my interpretation of Mendieta's, Imágen de Yágul photo series. I went to Liberty State Park and found a dead tree, supported by its branches, appearing as skeletal remains.

Female Gaze: Art that Looks at What Women See | NYTIMES

• "So is there such a thing as a “female gaze?” Ms. Vischer said that she ultimately concluded that there probably was no single way to define how women artists perceive their subjects. But she did concede: “The female artists’ gaze is shaped by their lived experiences, which are different for women and men.” For Mr. Grau, the female gaze might be defined as simply training one’s eyes on different subject matter, in new ways. “Looking is a way of world-making,” he said, “and it’s political."
  

The female gaze is often mixed with the male gaze when women view their looks either through masculine standards or through a female gaze but their values are mixed with a man's. Women use their experience to create their artwork, which said experience carries over to the mentality of the female gaze.

Ana Mendieta: Artist Who Pushed Boundaries | NYTimes

• "In 1973, while she was in college, Mendieta learned about the on-campus rape and murder of a nursing student named Sarah Ann Ottens. Her outrage over the incident drove her to stage one of her most confrontational and violent pieces, “Rape Scene... It’s about kind of capturing moments through various forms of documentation. And she takes all of these things to the world at large that might not be considered fine arts. She turns them into something intelligent, harrowing, and emotional."

Mendieta is passionate about her artwork, as well as justice for women. Being appalled by what had transpired on campus, she used this experience to create her work; raising further awareness of the crime and the message behind her photo.

Ways of Seeing by John Berger, Chapters 2+3

• "In the art-form of the European nude the painters and spectator-owners were usually men and the persons treated as objects, usually women. This unequal relationship is so deeply embedded  in our culture that it still structures the consciousness of many women."
• "But the essential way of seeing women, the essential use to which their images are put, has not changed. Women are depicted in a quite different way from men -- not because the feminine is different from the masculine -- but because the "ideal" spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him."

The male gaze is fueled by subjugation and dominance over women, and predominantly viewing them as objects for their pleasure. This toxic mindset is what divides men and women, preventing us from connecting with one another. People are molded into adopting that mentality, believing themselves to be in the right. Whereas, the female gaze views and values themselves as individuals, which is how everyone should view women; as people simply existing.