Stimuli Analysis
Stimuli 1
A photo series by Tracey Moffat.
Moffat references the history of art and photography, as well as exploring issues of race, gender, sexuality and identity.
Moffatt drew on memories from childhood, the Scarred for Life series mimics photo spreads from the American magazine Life, with their explanatory captions and focus on the family environment. The captions’ abrupt descriptions hint at the traumatic stories behind the images.
Useless, 1974, from the series Scarred for Life, (1994)
“her father’s nickname for her was ‘useless’.”
This shows the ‘roles’ of gender that were shown in the 1990’s, if a woman or a girl was not cooking, or cleaning she then would become ‘useless’.
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/128.1996.3/
Telecam Guys, 1977, from the series Scarred for Life, (1994)
“Later, her sister said, ‘the telecom guys told me I was far more more attractive and vivacious’.”
This again shows the deep understanding of the roles that women were stuck in. women had to be attractive and vivacious to catch a man’s eye.
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/128.1996.8/
The Wizard of Oz, 1956, from the series Scarred for Life, (1994)
“He was playing Dorothy in the school’s production of The Wizard of Oz. His father got angry at him for getting dressed too early.”
This shows how men cannot show and feminine side to them, the boy would have wanted to be in the dress because that’s how he felt comfortable, but his father is unhappy with the boys’ decision as boys and men cannot wear women’s clothing and the father did not want to be embarrassed by this.
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/128.1996.4/
Doll Birth, 1972, from the series Scarred for Life, (1994)
“His mother caught him giving birth to a doll. He was banned from playing with the boy next door again.”
The boy next door, in this image is shown to have thoughts and feeling about giving birth and has shown this to his friend. When the mother has caught them, the mother is disgusted because boys and men should not be thinking like a woman, it isn’t in the “gender” normalities.
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/128.1996.5/
Stimuli 2
Lagerfeld’s short film follows two women and their ideals of perfection, in which for both, is focused around gender and sexuality. The first lady wants the ‘ideal life’ with many men around her and gorgeous dinner parties, which shows that perfection is not always what you want, as this lady has no money but men surround her during dinner parties. The second lady that Lagerfeld introduces wishes for her ideal life of attention, which she gets from men, but when following the story, she realises that she does not want men, she wants women. But that chance for her is gone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3_rl2fAyy4
