“Looking is knowing.”
I was able to contemplate the different ways of looking- viewing, being a spectator and gazing.
I found it very interesting as to how one can notice so many aspects such as racial economics, aesthetics politics etc. just by critiquing a gaze! It is important to understand looking by considering both the conscious and the unconscious levels of viewer experience.
It is very fascinating how Las Meninas demonstrates the ways in which gaze can be distributed across varied subject positions and oscillate. “Selfies” can be attributed from group activism to self-promotion.
The concept of Panopticon, prison where inmates are in a constant state of knowing that they are under watch reduces the need for human labor as inmates become amenable. Surveillance takes many forms but is there someone monitoring the security cameras at all times?
Orientalism, embodying a colonialist attitude is found not only in political policies but also in cultural representations as reflected in ‘The Chinese Girl’, painting by Vladimir Tretchikoff. The various paintings by Jean-August-Dominique provide disparate western gazes dynamics.
This entire writeup had broadened my thinking on how one looks at things. It will always raise a question each time I look at something or see people around me looking at things. It’ll never be just casual looking or ignorance towards how we look and perceive things around us, be it a simple text, an image, or anything else. It will question my stand as a viewer or spectator, did I gaze? Did I look? Did I look or gaze to critique?
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