John Berger’s On the Female Nude, Ways of Seeing, 1972.
Berger talks about how from early stages women has always been portrayed to be vain, this was illustrated through paintings. Within early European Oil paintings women were often shown to be nude, looking at themselves in a mirror or with men watching over them. He discusses the speculation that the mirror was used as a symbol for vanity and it helps to show how women were taught to survey themselves. Expressing further that every glance represents a mirror, reminding ourselves of how we should look.
With regards to how Berger influences my piece, is when assessing the development of vanity to contemporary society, this isn’t just subject to ‘the male gaze’ this development of the need to look a specific way is also down to the media and its pressures on body image. These pressure’s suggest that as a woman you have a duty to wear makeup in order to be pretty, and be recognised (becoming a social norm). We are taught that we must enhance certain aspects and hide other in order to be beautiful and sexy. Vibrate helps to explore this ritual behaviour of beautification.
WAYS OF SEEING Episode 2: The Female Nude. 2014. John Berger.
Artist As Curator 