Social presence of a man and a woman differs
- Man’s Presence *man’s dependent on the promise of power that he has, it could be large or small depending on the situation, but the object is always exterior to the man a man’s presence suggest what he is capable of doing to you or for you the pretense is always towards a power that he exercises on others

- Woman’s presence * her actions expresses her own attitudes on herself, and what can and cannot be done to her * her gestures, voice, opinions, expressions, clothes, are all chosen things to express how she is supposed to be treated, but she doesn’t excersise any power. * they’re brought up to live in a limited space (teaching) * Woman’s being split in two

- Surveyor and the Surveyed * Elements of her identity as a woman * How she appears to men is taught as the success of her life * Her own sense of being is measured by how much she’s appreciated by others * Men survey woman before treating them = how a woman appears to a man can determine how she wants to be treated * She regulates what is “permissible” within her presence * Men act- and women appear. * Men look at women and women watch themselves being looked at * The surveyor of woman in herself is male – the surveyed female * Turns herself into an object – a sight * Nudes * European oil paintings

- Adam and Eve * The woman is aware of being seen by a spectator * Susannah and the Elders * She is taking a bath- she looks at us looking at her – we join the spy oh her * She is then looking into a mirror – proves that she cares about herself – the surveyor part of herself * Mirror = symbol of vanity (pride) – which means that we don’t want to accept that women care about their looks when it was first implied to them in the first place by men * So the mirror was a plot into telling the woman to treat herself as a SIGHT

- “The Judgement of Paris”
- The notion of Judgement was included – thus beauty became competitive * Given an apple as a prize – could use that as a symbol perhaps * Non-European traditions Indian Art, Persian Art, African Art nakedness is never lethargic in this way * What does a nude signify? * To be naked is to be oneself- to be nude is to be seen by others and not regonize oneself – has to be seen as an object to be a nude * Nudity is placed on display * Nudity is a form of a dress – it is turned into a disguise * “Venus, Cupid Time and Love” – Bronzino * Her body is arranged in a way to appeal to his sexuality- he is often clothed * The expression of a woman responding with calculated chasrm to the man whom she imagines looking at her- even she doesn’t know him * The absurdity of male flattery reached peak in public academic art “Les Oreades” Bouguereau * Men discussed business under paintings like this * When the woman looks back at the viewer she is aware that she is an object of sight, but when the woman looks away – as if there is something else going on in the painting- then she viewers are treated as the outsiders “Danae” – Rembrandt * Clothing renders mysteriousness whereas nakendness promotes relief- that we are all the same- the reality of the banality

* When we get naked it shows not only that we are in reality, but that we share the mechanism of sex. * Difficulty in creating a static image of sexual nakeness * Lived sexual experienced nakeness ia a process rather than a state * Isolate that moment- image becomes banal * This is why expressive photographs of the naked are even rarer than paintings * Easier to turn the figure into a nude = turns desire into fantasy * “Helene Fourment in a Fur Coat” – Rubens * The painting “contains’ traces of time and experience. The fur is just about the slip off * The action of her upper body doesn’t match with the bottom half- what is happening under the sexual area covered with fur? * This element of banality is undisguised by not chilling * The difference between voyeur and lover * the European humanist Spirit = individualism * Durer believed that the ideal nude should take different aspects of a woman then place it into one place. *

- “Olympia” by Manet * The woman starts to question that role somewhat defiantly * The essential way of seeing a woman – the “ideal” spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him.

The exhibit was far better than I anticipated. Despite the crappy weather I’m glad that I made it down to Harbourfront to see the work of Pootoogook. What makes her work stand out from others is the variety of content that it contains compared to well; in this case a lot of static boring art that I’ve been seeing in various Second Cups (yes, it was getting very depressing). Her use of contemporary pop culture items to juxtapose images of natives dressed in traditional winter garments is a fascinating mixture. The perspective is then placed on how we perceive natives and their way of life, how they are fed popular culture through means of current media, but despite that still live in conditions that we all know could be improved from its current state. It saddens me to think that the “originals” to this land live in these conditions.

Content such as abuse (both substance and physical) and way of life are portrayed in such an indeterminate state that I cannot help but be thankful that these issues are addressed. Perhaps this is a silent outcry to the public that we really need to bring a more concrete way of life to the natives. Mass media feeds them what they feed to the rest of the developed fast paced world, but what they necessary is probably something a little different. The content simply does not compliment or enhance their way of life as their way of life is by far different than ours.