WNY Models

MarkK · by **MarkK** on April 5th, 2004, 11:16 pm

I'm a BFA student in my senior year at SUNY at Oswego. I'm currently writing my thesis paper for the capstone course in Contemporary Art Issues. My issue in the paper is whether or not the sex/gender of the photographer should be brought into the matrix when reviewing a work of theirs. Should one downgrade one's work and upgrade someone else's based on gender alone? What do you think?

For example, 2 photographers place their work up on a museum wall. Both have a female nude as the subject in the same style. Does one have a different meaning then the other if one was shot by a female and the other by a male? Would it be better if the photographers weren't identified? Does this have to mean a change in the context of the image?

Of late there is a definite position in my college that men should not photograph women because the women because it automatically becomes an issue of objectification, male gaze and power issues no matter what the subject matter is. While I know this does occur at times, my question is one of whether or not it has to happen all the time? A female photographer working with a female model does change things but what happens if she (the photographer) is a lesbian? What if the male photographer is gay? What if the model was a male? Are Suze Randell's (photographer for a men's magazine) images of lesbians any better or worse in terms of objectifying women then, say Weston?

Recently an image was posted on a forum I frequent. It was a great image by a female photographer involving a woman sitting on the floor in a kitchen licking something off a knife. Very powerful image loaded with meaning. Why would it's meaning change if a man had shot it instead? Are men incapable of capturing the same idea and portraying it to a viewer? In a book I have it states that knowledge of the photographer, their experience, their previous body of work, etc all add to the richness and understanding of the work in question. I totally agree with this but I have to wonder when it's used to pigeonhole a work.

By the way, I have a half dozen books next to me, including Sontag's "On Photography", Wells's "the photography reader" and "Photography: A Critical Introduction" as well as yours to be used as sources.

Larisa · by **Larisa** on April 5th, 2004, 11:58 pm

Unfortunatly, no matter what, on knowing the gender of the photographer the viewer's opinion of the photograph will be altered. It just depends on the individual on how much they will let this impact their overall opinion. It's like first impressions - everyone has them. What really matters is what you do with this information and if you let it alter your overal opinion of the person, and your actions towards them. All of us have been brought up with sterotypes and these images in our minds of what society thinks is "right" and "perfection". No matter how much we disagree with these "rules", we will continue to be influenced by them.

However, I think that overall it has to do with the viewers own level of comfortableness. A female looking at a female nude, taken by a male photographer, feels that it's degrading because if she was in that position - she herself would feel degraded. If she was comfortable with the idea, she wouldn't judge the photo any differently.

WNY Models

Thesis paper topic - Deep thinking required

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