I also use photography as a medium to explore social issues and dynamics that come up in my academic work. I used both digital and film to creative narratives that can connect people emotionally to social causes.
Project: Masculinities – The Female Gaze
Vulnerable. Naked. Fragility. Softness. Sensual. These are not words associated with men or masculinities, yet they are the main themes explored in my photo project Masculinities: The Female Gaze, which attempts to re-shape the visual representation of men. Throughout Western art history, women have been the subject of the masculine gaze of both male artists and the presumed male audience. Women have long been sidelined as authorial subjects in art and have been represented as objects typically presented as passive and/or sexualized. In this project, I aim to invert the male gaze by exploring themes of male vulnerability by capturing men in intimate and unguarded moments. This objective stems from the fact that patriarchal society requires most men to develop a mask of stoicism that hides their pain, sadness, fragility, and alienation from public view, which has deleterious effects on themselves and others. Through this project, I intend to uncover the more intimate emotions that characterize male life. Presenting men in these intimate portraits inverses the power relations intrinsic to much photographic work.
Bi-Racial People and Belonging in Canada
I am currently looking to photograph and briefly interview bi-racial people about their experiences of belonging in Canada. Please email me if you’re interested in taking part. Shoot availability in Toronto and Winnipeg.
jilliansunderland.com 