Discerning the Nuances of Gaze in Art, Films

KOCHI:
It’s all in the gaze in art and films. The oppositional gaze, the male gaze, the female gaze, black spectatorship, Brahmanical gaze, Bahujan spectatorship and spectator gaze!

The way marginalised people and women are looked at and their depiction in art and films were discussed at the ABC Workshop, Crossover, an immersive session on finding flow, gaze and visual design led by filmmaker, producer, academician, and writer Jyoti Nisha.

Her take on gaze aesthetics was an eye-opener for the 15-odd participants gathered at ABC Art Room workshop held in Forplay Society, Bazaar Road, Mattancherry. The workshop, part of the ongoing 6th edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), was facilitated by the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF).

“After looking at pre- and post-independent cinema, I rejected 100 years of cinema as we were looked upon as objects, not subjects. We felt a distance because it was more like a gimmick, a prop, not something foundational based on anti-caste movement of Ambedkar, Periyar, Phule and the like. The idea of gaze came when I was told that I don’t look like a Dalit, that I dressed and spoke well, which I thought was normal. I wanted to portray this discrimination,” said Nisha.

However, she struggled to find a language for the portrayal despite studying in Film and Television Institute, doing journalism and other courses.

“It was in Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) that I learnt more about gaze, from Bell Hooks’ views. Borrowing from art critic John Berger’s ‘Ways of Seeing’, from the 14th century paintings of women displaying certain parts of the body for male consumption, to the emergence of cameral movement and image manipulation, more so when sound came into the scene; of male film crew making films for male and upper-class audience!” she pointed out.

Learning from Laura Mulvey’s views on male gaze, totally removed from the context and more for titillation, and Ambedkarian constitutional views of equality, humanity, rationality and like-minded reformers’ views, she made the film, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: Now and Then.

“Gaze is usually based on an ideology and my gaze is more Ambedkar-oriented, more constitutional,” she said.

The five-day workshop began with participants signing the Crossover contract, agreeing to commit themselves to the guided encounter with creativity; ways of seeing themselves, seeing culture, class, caste, gender and sexuality, besides the exercises, meditation, reading texts, watching cinema, learning to listen, listening to inner voice, observing and be open to others’ experiences and perspectives in a scientific and empathetic way.

“We were introduced to a regimen that helps nurture our creativity — Julia Cameron’s An Artist’s Prayer; Sacred Circle Rules and Basic Principles, mostly that creativity was the natural order of life, and to spark the creative child in us,” said Bharath Suvarnan, a filmmaker from Edakochi.

The participants delved into gaze in detail. “We discussed patriarchal male gaze, especially white male gaze and the counter narrative of black gaze and female gaze and gained a basic understanding of how such gazes dominate the narrative in films, generally objectifying women. More than the craft, Jyoti Nisha has done justice to her theory through her message on Bahujan perspective through the medium of film,” said Suvarnan.

According to him, she has depicted the Dalit consciousness through lived experiences of Rohit Vemula; Una cases, Jignesh Mevani, Chandrasekhar Azad, to name a few in a striking manner and “thus changed our perspective as well.”

The activities, discussions and presentations helped understand the different gazes, said PhD research scholar Godwin E specializing in gaze in St Joseph’s College, Bengaluru.

The workshop was engaging and interesting, said multidisciplinary artist Padmashree from Tamil Nadu. “The sessions helped us interact and learn more. The film screening in which Nisha has depicted her Bahujan perspective offered more clarity to my doubts on such portrayal.”

Crossover aims to build a community that thinks scientifically, create, and tell stories to claim one’s due space.