Nobuyoshi Araki
The lens captures what the eye sees, or in the case of photography, what the eye wants to see.
A photograph is a literal window into the gaze of the photographer at the time the image was taken, and is a reflection of how that person sees the object in the photograph. when it comes to looking at the above image by Noboyushi Araki, you can see an example of the 'male gaze', so that no matter who looks at the image, regardless of gender, they see it from a mans perspective.
The image appears to represent an exaggerated reflection on societies forced view of women that runs as an undercurrent of female imagery even to this day; that they are submissive, sex objects, should be told what to do and need men to make the decisions on their future. This can be represented by the fact that the subject in the image is tied up and wearing lingerie, as if she were a toy. her eyes look lifeless, and the way her head is limp on the floor seems to show an aspect of surrender, as if she has no choice in her fate and has decided against fighting it, she has completely succumbed to the will of the viewer, who has total control over her future whilst tied up. This is how the photographer wanted to portray the subject, which could be construed as meaning that this is how he views women, although if you look at most of his work, its all pretty much on the same lines so there is definitely an element of personal gratification from taking these images. it is strange as a woman to look at an image and see what a man sees, but as a part of a male dominated society, this has always been a part of viewing images.
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