Do your pre-judgements about gender affect your own perceptions of this image, or of visual culture more broadly? Berger is writing at a time when most societies considered gender to be a binary rather than a spectrum. Do you think that our contemporary notions of gender and sexuality impact how you interpret your images?
In this discussion, you will apply a materialist critique of art and analyze how pre-judgments impact perception. You will also consider the artist’s intention. Your Tasks In Ways of Seeing, Berger observes that in art and media, “men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.” To examine this quote, select two works of […]