Regard

Regard

I question and challenge the ownership of the stare, its social values and regulations within the fabric of society. It is when we look at the other that we get a better idea of who we are and what we are not. I present the viewer with the inescapability of his or her own stare, probing the ‘don’t stare!’ policy our society has taught us, in an attempt to create awareness of the non-verbal communication that has been created. Staring is our way of gathering information and knowledge. Staring at another individual brings into play a dialogue of two beings, the complex intersections of culture, education, place, circumstance and mood of both the starer and staree who is subjected to the unwanted non-verbal communication. A stare is rarely felt without a negative connotation. In this piece, my concern was to overcome the awkward tension on both the staree and starer, confronting the viewers with the conditioning of their own perception. 

Do you own your stare?

We all stare and each one of us will be confronted by a stare at any given point.  It is instinctive to stare, a newborn baby stares and can feel a stare upon them (Garland-Thomson, 2009).  We never lose this intuition; scientists have noted that our heart races when we feel a stare upon us, we are aroused.  One cannot escape a stare, nor can one avoid staring.  (Garland-Thomson, 2009). 

In this piece I wish to refabricate the awkward, often invasive stare from one person to another.  To highlight the oppression within our society, confronting the viewers with the conditioning of their own perception. By measuring the power of a judgemental stare towards the other, through the eyes of the other, both being the giver and receiver of stares.  

Born with what society considers a ‘novel’ body, a human variation,[1] I have been the bearer and giver of many powerful stares and have long been interested in this relationship between strangers and their unassailable non-verbal communication. 

Scientists and artists alike are researching this complexity.  Gerhard Richter in one of his works, shifted the attention to the viewer in his piece Spiegel, Mirror 2008, he simply hung a mirror on the wall pronouncing the viewer as the portrait. Also, the Institute of HearthMath are performing tests to measure the hearts intuitive intelligence and show the power of the unspoken connection between living beings.

Emmanuel Levinas spoke about the responsibility we have towards each other and that responsibility begins from the non-verbal communication we engage in through the stare.  We hold the fragility of the other with our gaze with the way we support or trample on the others’ fragility.  According to Levinas, it is our duty to support and respect the other (1991).  It strikes me that very few people adopt this kindness.  

According to Rosemarie Thompson-Garland (2009, p.30-32), the elite and the medical society have played a great role over the years to create the ‘freak’ from those born with human variations, one displaying them for society to gawk at them and the other trying to ‘fix’ what is abnormal, creating a stareable distance.

[1] A phrase created by Rosemarie Thompson-Garland to refer to people commonly known as disabled (2009)