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In the modern age that we live in now mass media is filled with images of women, however, these images are almost never truthful and almost never exemplify all aspects of women. The most commonly viewed image of a woman in the mass media today whether it be in an advertisement, film or television, is one where the woman is sexually objectified or manufactured. In Laura Mulvey’s essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, she introduces the notion of the Male Gaze. The Male Gaze is defined as “visual pleasure in mainstream Hollywood cinema derives from and reproduces a structure of male looking and female to-be-looked-at-ness (whereby the spectator is invited to identify with a male gaze at an objectified female) which replicates the structure of unequal power relations between men and women” (Gamma, 5). However, the Male Gaze is not one that can only be found it Hollywood film but in television and advertisement too. It is a gaze that sexually objectifies women as they become objects of the male fantasy. Our society that we live in completely influenced by images circulating in the media. With that arises the questions that if our society is influenced by media images and the media is dominated by the Male Gaze, what does that mean about our society? Do young women growing up learn to present themselves in a certain way based on the Male Gaze dominated media? What is the Male Gaze looking at? What does the women ideal woman look like? What are the implications of the portrayal of women not only on our society but the rest of the world? And if the portrayal of women is an artificial one, how does the media manufacture that artificiality? When examining the portrayal of women in society many of these questions arise, therefore this exhibition was created. “Objectively Published Women” sets out to answer some of those questions in terms of art. From Barbara Kruger to Cindy Sherman this exhibition displays the gender inequality in the media and its implications.

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"A Brief History of Cindy Sherman and Feminism." Artsy, 2017 Artsy, 2 June
2016, www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-is-cindy-sherman-a-feminist. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.
Cain, Abigal. "A Brief History of Cindy Sherman and Feminism." Artsy, 2017
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Gamman, Lorraine, and Margaret Marshment. The Female Gaze: Women as Viewers of Popular Culture. Real Comet Press, Seattle, 1989.
Kruger, Barbara. Untitled. 1981. Artsy, 2017 Artsy, www.artsy.net/artwork/
barbara-kruger-untitled-your-gaze-hits-the-side-of-my-face. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.
Untitled. 1981. Artsy, 2017 Artsy, www.artsy.net/artwork/barbara-kruger-untitled-your-gaze-hits-the-side-of-my-face. Accessed 27
Apr. 2017.
"Lynn Hershman Leeson Seduction." Artsy, 2017 Artsy, www.artsy.net/artwork/lynn-hershman-leeson-seduction. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.
Mapes, Michael. Pinky. 2016. Artsy, 2017 Artsy, www.artsy.net/artwork/ 5825f81d8b3b8149280007f1. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.
"Michael Mapes." Ocula, 2017 Ocula, ocula.com/artists/michael-mapes/. Accessed
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"Sanja Ivekovic Sweet Violence." MoMA, edited by Jason Persse, 2017 The Museum
of Modern Art, www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/sanjaivekovic/#tragedy-of-a-venus. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.
Sherman, Cindy. Untitled Film Still #6. 1977. Artsy, 2017 Artsy, www.artsy.net/artwork/cindy-sherman-untitled-film-still-number-06. Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.

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Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still, 1977, Gelatin Silver Print

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Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still, 1977, Gelatin Silver Print

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Cindy Sherman is known for her portraits of portraying female stereotypes. This photograph is #6 in her series “Untitled Film Stills” where Sherman serves as both the photographer and subject, transforming herself into recognizable movie stars of earlier generations. Historically throughout film and still present today’s industry, women in film become subjects of the “Male Gaze”. Within the projection of the “Male Gaze” women are always portrayed as the “ideal woman” and projections of the male fantasy. Here Sherman is presenting her portrayal of the “ideal woman” in film. The ideal woman is one who is concerned about her looks, beautiful, fit, and seemingly dreaming of her man who is not with her. We see this portrayal of the ideal woman as Sherman holds a mirror in her hand, is made up with her hair and make up done, is positioned in a sexual manner, and whose gaze is positioned upward as if she were dreaming. This piece was chosen for this exhibition for depicting the stereotypical portrayal of women in film, women who are objectified and become victims of the “Male Gaze”.

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Sanja Ivekovic, Sex Appeal as a Main Weapon (Tragedy of a Venus), 1975-76, Photograph and Magazine Image Mounted on Paper

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Sanja Ivekovic, Sex Appeal as a Main Weapon (Tragedy of a Venus), 1975-76, Photograph and Magazine Image Mounted on Paper

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Sex Appeal as a Main Weapon is from Sanja Ivekovic series “Tragedy of a Venus”, in which Ivekovic explores the impact of the lives of Hollywood celebrities on ordinary people. The artist pairs photographs of glamourous celebrities with snapshots of the artist herself posing similarly or as mocking the celebrities. In Sex Appeal as a Main Weapon, Ivekovic uses a photograph of Marilyn Monroe taken from a 1975 tabloid published in the magazine Duga and pairs it with a snapshot of herself posing similar to Marilyn. Ivekovic uses this method of juxtaposition to call attention to the kind of fame that was common in the West, but seemingly unimaginable for an Eastern European artist like herself. She is depicting the power and influence mass media images have on people, even those who are across the world. This piece was added to exhibit because it addresses the idolization of celebrities in the media and the influence they have on the common people.

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Michael Mapes, Pinky, 2016, Mixed Media 

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Michael Mapes, Pinky, 2016, Mixed Media 

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Michael Mapes is an artist who employs visual metaphors by working very meticulously to compile “DNA” for the subject he is depicting. By using a collage technique Mapes collects anything from genealogical information, personal statistics, cosmetic samples, fingernail clippings, handwriting samples and hair strands, which he then complies together to construct his work. Mapes uses the method of deconstructing his subjects both literally and figuratively. This method is used to challenge the way in which scientific information is assimilated into culture. In his piece Pinky, Mapes uses cut outs of breasts, lips, legs, and women’s bodies from magazine clippings which are complied together to form the figure of Pinky. The form in which Mapes uses to display Pinky is very imperative to the content of his piece. Pinky is a woman from an old advertisement but the way in which she is constructed gives meaning to the way women are constructed in advertisement and the media. Most times when women are depicted in the media they are depicted as the ideal women, one which in reality does not exist. However, modern technology now allows the perfect and ideal women to literally be manufactured, through programs like Photoshop. Mapes is taking cut out of the ideal parts of women to compile all of the clippings to create a perfect woman, much like what modern media does. The perfect woman that is depicted in the media does not exist, it is a combination of the feminine ideal. This piece was added to the exhibition because it brings the message of the artificiality of women in the media, and the ideals that the media has.

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Lynn Hershman Leeson, Seduction, 1985, Gelatin Silver Print

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Lynn Hershman Leeson, Seduction, 1985, Gelatin Silver Print

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This photograph derives from Lynn Hershman Leeson’s series of photographs titled “The Phantom Limb”. The series of photographs depict the merging of human bodies, specifically women’s bodies, and reproductive machinery such as cameras, television monitors, and cathode-ray tubes. The meaning behind this series is to bring attention to the invasive nature of mass media and the way that images circulating in the media can influence mental projection of identity. This particular piece, Seduction speaks to the way in which women and their sexuality are influenced by the media. From advertisements to film and television, young girls are exposed to the media’s interpretation of seduction at a very young age being that the way women learn seduction is through media outlets. In this piece Leeson is exhibiting that the only a way that women learn seduction is through the media, therefore the woman is acting in the way she saw deployed on television and literally places the television on her head. This piece was added to this exhibit because it displays the ways in which women are portray in the media and how it has an effect and influence on women in there everyday and even private lives.

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Barbra Kruger, Untitled (Your Gaze Hits the Side of my Face), 1981, Photograph and Type on Paperboard 

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Barbra Kruger, Untitled (Your Gaze Hits the Side of my Face), 1981, Photograph and Type on Paperboard 

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Barbra Kruger’s 1981 piece Untitled was chosen for this exhibition because it directly addresses the notion of the gaze and particularly, the “Male Gaze”. The boxed text on the left side of the piece comments on women’s position in relation to the Male Gaze. In the Male Gaze, women become objectified leaving only their physicality and sexuality to the importance of males. It is very important that the woman in this piece is depicted as a statue because it alludes to the objectification of women. Women are nothing more than a solid face made of rock with nothing on the inside in the perspective of the male gaze.  The position of the statue and the quote “Your gaze hits the side of my face” points to the Male Gaze’s refusal of acknowledging women and looking them straight on in the eyes. Instead the Male Gaze looks solely to the side of the woman’s face where it will achieve the most visual pleasure.