FEMALE MONOLOGUES: investigating gender fluidity with individuality through photography

FEMALE MONOLOGUES is a practiced-led photographic research project that focuses on challenging gender stereotypes, rendering the concept of gender fluidity, and using psychoanalysis to analyse the reason behind women’s ever-present self-censorship. 

The aesthetic and subject matter is inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe’s exploration of human figures and his mastery of the use of cropping to magnify and highlight specific details; the respectful presentation and collaboration with minority groups by Diane Arbus; Michael James O’Brien’s drag queen series that perfectly reveals the contrast and co-existence of feminine and masculine with individuality; and, most notably, the dynamic of performing one’s gender power transition in a heterosexual relationship as shown by Pixy Liao and her partner. 

This project is an abstraction of these influences through the female gaze. The photographs present my interpretation of the act of revealing one’s nakedness without sexualising the body and refuse to cater to any observer. It describes my tension in living as a woman who began her awareness of feminism today and yet still needs to deal with the powerless feeling when facing the deep-rooted gender roles and stereotypes present in our society. It respects and empowers participants to present their authentic self without concern for the judgment of others. The photographs address the notion that gender fluidity could also apply to gender-role fluidity and gender expression fluidity. The fluidity could open up the possibility for each person to express their individuality, disrupting the traditional gender expectations and the essentialism of performing one’s gender.