These pictures were all made in one night, backstage at a pole dancing competition. Each competitor was photographed before and after her performance, and the resulting two images show a marked shift in the way each subject presents herself to the camera.
It has become almost impossible to make images of women, especially women that exude any kind of sexuality, without referring in someway to the idea that they are objects of the male gaze. The women in these images are performing for an audience made up mostly of men and they are fully aware of this gaze. In-front of the camera they strike a confident pose for the presumed-to-be male viewer before they go onstage. The images taken after the performance reveal more subdued character and a mixture of exhaustion, adrenalin and relief.
Titles:
Nikkita I and II
Harmony I and II
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5 comments:
I have just found this blog and am horrified at the assumption made by the writer, the competiton was not for men and most of us were not lap dancers. the reason we look different in the after photos is due to the fact that our performances require a huge amount of strength and are therefore very tiring. http://artofdancesam.blogspot.com.
I’m sorry but I was at this competition (Watching) and the majority of people in the crowd were actually WOMEN even my boyfriend commented at the time he felt out of place, the majority of people there where from pole schools or gangs of pole enthusiasts on a girly night out it was a ticket only event so men weren’t able to just walk in, only about two or three competitors where professional dancers out of about ten or twelve girls - not sure what your motives / points are but your comments are unsubstantiated and biased.
What a load of utter and complete rubbish! Do you have anything remotely intelligent to say?
A little learning is a dangerous thing.
It seems to me that the author has a naive viewpoint and has done no research. Simply finding some photos on the net and explaining how they should be viewed does not back up an argument.
Moreover, it is grossly unethical to use images of real, living people (without their permission) to illustrate these naive and insulting observations.
i think the idea behind these images was opening up discussion on the nature of the male gaze rather than being an illustration of it, the fact is that poledacing is used in a great deal of strip clubs where by the dancer is assumed to have a passive role, to be looked at, and altho i'm sure the event is nothing to do with those sort of clubs it is fairly safe to assume the link will be commonly made. what these photographs allow is for us to look beyond this, the performers return the gaze to us not as objects to be viewed but active competitors in a sporting event. i feel the above comments regard the work as critical of the performers but i disagree greatly.
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