SURVEYOR AND SURVEYED

John Berger’s 1972 perspective describes how women come ‘to consider the surveyor and surveyed’, which forms her sense of identity.

Although four decades have passed, these power imbalances are still relevant, which challenges my way of looking at images when finding ways to represent the female body.

This experiment is in response to Berger’s viewpoint using found images from 1965 English Vogue. Thinking-through-making themes emerge as I enter the world of hybrid image-making, crossing digital and handmade processes.

I scanned the images, isolated areas, scaled them up and printed them digitally onto fine art paper, then took them back through the printing press using opaque inks to conceal parts of the image, extracting fragments from the original, creating new conversations and directions for the images to go in.

Looking instinctively and selecting images that resonate with my ideas. I intentionally construct the image playfully and away from the thinking place and in response to the woman watching herself being watched.

The images show ‘Surveyor and surveyed’ iteration one; scaled up digital prints onto fine art paper, combining the hand-crafted and digital by looking for new qualities teasing out themes about concealing and new spaces for conversation and interpretation.