The Female Gaze: Behind the Scenes of Gender Performativity

A photographic exploration of how femininity is performed. This series looks behind the curtain, revealing the effort, chaos, and contradictions behind the polished image of "womanhood."

Inspired by gender theorist Judith Butler, the work challenges the idea that femininity is natural. Instead, it shows how femininity is not something innate but something done, often under pressure, surveillance, and contradiction. In doing so, the photographs aim to dismantle the illusion of effortless femininity and expose the cost—emotional, physical, and psychological—of its maintenance.

By pairing moments of iconic feminine symbolism with moments of mess and historically taboo symbolism, these images question who gets to see what, and why. The Female Gaze invites us to reflect on the performance of gender—what it demands, and what it hides.