Gender.
Where do you see yourself?
Ula:
Jiwon, at the time, was studying at the same university I was - the University of St Andrews. It was towards the end of her Master’s Degree in Philosophy that we finally came to realise the images we have had in mind for so long… Jiwon and I had been working together for a year or so, and we would always find ourselves talking about gender and stereotypes attached to it. Expectations and misunderstandings from the outside world is something that both of us could not help but notice all the time. Even more-so, I just really wanted to capture Jiwon. Just the way she is. So I asked Jiwon how she would want to see herself, posing an inevitable questions of identity - who are you?
Naturally, the two topics blended together - Jiwon’s self expression and an underlying message about gender and identity.
It was a true pleasure and exploration coming up with the concept, as well as implementing it. And I am extremely glad that Jiwon enjoyed working on this project, as much as I did, finding herself in the final result.
Jiwon:
These three different themes above represent the most three important aspects of me, the philosophical, artistic, and feministic sides, which are all united with a single idea: irony.
Showing my philosophical side, I wanted to represent a female lecturer who acts just like a male lecturer. (I am a philosopher, indeed.) Showing my artistic side, I wanted to represent a boy drummer who sexualises the musical instruments. (I am a drummer, in fact.)
Showing my feministic side, I wanted to show two things. First, I wanted to present the whole gender spectrum, including masculinity, gender neutrality, and femininity. I wanted to send a message out that no matter which gender you identify with or which sex you are born with, nothing can invalidate who you truly are. You are who you are.
The boy drummer is told to sexualise his drum sticks, just like a female musician is told to sexualise her mic. He tries to wear a furry muffler and red lipstick, just like a female musician does, but it looks too artificial. He poses on the piano just like a female musician poses, but it appears to be a joke.
All of these photos are taken in familiar settings and cliche poses but appear to be rather funny and unconventional due to the gender roles being subverted. The female lecturer is spreading her legs while sitting, just like a male lecturer. She’s not smiling.
She’s not afraid to confront the audience, being assertive and aggressive, just like a male lecturer. She’s not being heard, but she’s not shutting up.
Ula and I wanted to show that nude photos can be taken without overly sexualising the model. It’s a message to our society which always sexualises female models on media. We wanted to capture the rawness of being nude as if there is nothing special about being nude. I wanted to be topless because female nipples are always censored in media even though there is no difference between male nipples and female nipples. The only way to change how the public sees female nudity is, I believe, to constantly expose female nipples or nudes as if they are not taboo or sexually special. Therefore, as feminists, we tried to capture the nudity without being sexual.
A gender-neutral person is presenting the stereotypical male and female poses. For example, there’s a cliché masculine pose that we often see in a body-building competition. There’s also a cliché feminine pose from Marilyn Monroe. These poses are contrasted with each other, but all modelled by the same person.
The bottom line is - we can be anything on this spectrum and in-between, and you don’t have to choose afterall.