My book The Female Gaze in Art and Photography (Hardie Grant, 2023, vol 1) is both research and interview based.
I had interviewed twenty contemporary women artists and photographers from Australia and around the world about how they use their female gaze in their work. This book foregrounds women creators and many of the works are also about women subjects. It is inspired by Charlotte Jansen’s Girl on Girl that addresses the female gaze and extends the conversation.
The female gaze is multifarious in meaning and usage. Each creative has her own interpretation and application of this gaze. Essentially, the female gaze refers to a female way of seeing and creating, often from a female experience and female subjectivity. Effectively, it is art and photography from a woman’s perspective, a woman’s point of view and often emanates from the affective, emotions felt and the psychological.
The Female Gaze in Art and Photography (Hardie Grant, 2023, vol 1) offers a diverse spectrum of artworks produced by these women creatives featured in the book. It includes a socio-historical context, referencing art history, enabling readers to see snippets of the past in art history and where we are today in relation to women and art.
The Female Gaze in Art and Photography (Hardie Grant, 2023, vol 1) is nuanced as it discusses and challenges the dominant, historical male gaze that has underscored western art, idealising or sexually objectifying women, particularly the nude. It shows how the female gaze reclaims the female body and form as a site of multiple meanings. The Female Gaze in Art and Photography (Hardie Grant, 2023, vol 1) also addresses how social issues are revealed in the artworks.
I am thrilled to share that The Female Gaze in Art and Photography (Hardie Grant, 2023, vol 1) has won 4 international awards (see section on awards) in NEW YORK; LOS ANGELES AND UK) receiving recognition for its worth. I was privileged to attend a dinner award ceremony in New York, May 2025 where I received a gold trophy with my name awards and date on it and a huge round of applause from 250 people who I didn’t know who attended the award night. I felt humbled and very proud, happy that my husband and close friends were there with me to experience the night.
The Female Gaze in Art and Photography (Hardie Grant, vol 2 2025) is due out October 2025, focusing on global deceased women artists and photographers. It serves as a complimentary companion to vol 1, living creatives. Each book can be read on its own or in tandem. The work of the women selected for these books had to touch me in some way for them to be included. I had to feel some connection.
There is a volume 3 of The Female Gaze in Art and Photography (Hardie Grant, due for release September 2026) on three Australian women artists of the Heidelberg and Impressionist era.
And, I am currently researching vol 4 which shall be a surprise for now.
When I write, it is through my whole being: intellectual, emotional psychological and physical.
I hope you will read and enjoy my work.