Vee Hertel

For my final project, I am taking my perspective as an identified female to look upon other self-identifying females, or femininity itself (not particularly a personality trait that belongs to only cis-females). I want to take into consideration all forms of gender expression and sexualities. I'm titling the project "Female Gaze," as it relates to the feminist theory of the male gaze. I'm trying to define, in my own way, how I view through the female gaze. I find that the male gaze fragments women as objects, possessions, when it comes to cinematography, advertisements and all other art forms. I intend to illustrate fragmentation in a way that shows the soul, or the intellect of the person. I want to find a way to show feminine qualities without over-sexualizing the person. I want to correlate nudity with freedom, while still supporting sexuality (but not promoting solely sex, as the male gaze produces). I would like to take this project further by finding femininity in other vessels, other communities.

Being feminine hasn't really been a quality that many people correlate with power or strength. Most cis-men are ashamed to be considered feminine. I want to change the negative connotation that comes with this quality by attaching (what I consider) "masculine" qualities along with the "feminine." I want to create a battle between what should be, what shouldn't be, and what is.

I work with the light that I am given. I'm either indoors at my subjects' home in dull light, underground in the subway system with fluorescent lighting, or in a setting with natural light. A lot of my photos range from soft, dreamy, blurry, dull light to intense, sharp and dramatic light.

My setting is New York, in my social community, for this project. I want to capture the gazes of others (people who are close to me) as I'm gazing at them. I want to show how femininity and masculinity are ambiguous qualities. Most of my photos for this series are when the subjects are looking away, or caught in thought, or in action. My subjects are usually in their own environment, or out in the New York scene. This project is inspired by Petra Collins' series "The Teenage Gaze" and "The Female Gaze."

http://www.petracollins.com/?works=portfolio