Un voyage vers une photographie feminine: The gender politics of body and space
type: CreativeWork
description: In 1999 I embarked on a photographic journey to various cities around the world. The photographs produced are the results of my critical attention as a woman and a feminist to the issues concerning gender, travel and landscape aesthetics. This dissertation is an analysis of my documentary photographs. I am interested in ways in which my photographs correspond with the French feminist theories of Helene Cixous and Lucy Irigaray on ecriture feminine. Their work on the politics of the body has been influential in my journey towards a photographie feminine. 'Moreover, I also incorporate the feminist work of cultural and travel theorists such as Elizabeth Wilson, Janet Wolf, Trinh T. Minh-ha, amongst others, in my 'writing the body'. A photographie feminine places an emphasis on the primacy of the feminin. My use of the term feminin is different from a masculine construct of the feminine. Instead, it resists the masculine closure of representation and attempts to depict feminin heterogeneity and feminin desire repressed by the Law of the Father. Importantly, it is also concerned with using and reworking the masculine myths and metaphors of the feminine. As such, much of my photography involves reframing found advertising images of women in the city, as well as self-representations. A photographie feminine also shares a number of similarities with postmodern documentary photography, such as self-reflexivity, a concern with power relationships and the nature of images and their circulation as well as the production of images that use irony as a political device. The concept of gendered spatiality is also central to this study. In the first chapter I describe my journey photography, linking the traditions of travel and landscape aesthetics to feminist theories of the body. In particular, I discuss my 'politics of location' which highlights the significance of gender and race in regards to 'how I see the world' as well as discussing my approach in reading the photographs. In…
abstract: In 1999 I embarked on a photographic journey to various cities around the world. The photographs produced are the results of my critical attention as a woman and a feminist to the issues concerning gender, travel and landscape aesthetics. This dissertation is an analysis of my documentary photographs. I am interested in ways in which my photographs correspond with the French feminist theories of Helene Cixous and Lucy Irigaray on ecriture feminine. Their work on the politics of the body has been influential in my journey towards a photographie feminine. 'Moreover, I also incorporate the feminist work of cultural and travel theorists such as Elizabeth Wilson, Janet Wolf, Trinh T. Minh-ha, amongst others, in my 'writing the body'. A photographie feminine places an emphasis on the primacy of the feminin. My use of the term feminin is different from a masculine construct of the feminine. Instead, it resists the masculine closure of representation and attempts to depict feminin heterogeneity and feminin desire repressed by the Law of the Father. Importantly, it is also concerned with using and reworking the masculine myths and metaphors of the feminine. As such, much of my photography involves reframing found advertising images of women in the city, as well as self-representations. A photographie feminine also shares a number of similarities with postmodern documentary photography, such as self-reflexivity, a concern with power relationships and the nature of images and their circulation as well as the production of images that use irony as a political device. The concept of gendered spatiality is also central to this study. In the first chapter I describe my journey photography, linking the traditions of travel and landscape aesthetics to feminist theories of the body. In particular, I discuss my 'politics of location' which highlights the significance of gender and race in regards to 'how I see the world' as well as discussing my approach in reading the photographs. In…
author: Allmark, Panizza Ruth
keywords: Feminism, Gender identity, Body image, Photography., Photography, Women's Studies
date published: 2003-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-27T19:21:56Z
provider: Edith Cowan University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia