PROPERTY OF THE GAZE
“Man can live out his fantasies and obsessions through linguistic command by imposing them on the silent image of woman still tied to her place as bearer of meaning, not maker of meaning.”-Laura Mulvey
Playboy has historically framed objectification through a lens of sophistication, using design
to shape erotic imagery into something culturally acceptable. Responding to Laura Mulvey’s
statement that “pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female,” (1975), this project explores how looking is constructed as a form of male power, and how Playboy directs and controls the gaze.
Aimed at creative practitioners, students, and audiences interested in feminism, and visual culture, the work is positioned within an independent editorial publishing context. Using archival Playboy imagery, cropped and pulled out of its original context, it exposes how women are staged, edited and framed as passive subjects for consumption.
Property of the Gaze is a printed editorial publication that restages dissertation research
through long-form text and imagery together. Through cutting, reframing and repetition,
the publication becomes a visual confrontation, revealing how objectification is not only
shown but designed.
This project contains explicit nudity.