Reclaiming the female gaze

In Anita Selzer’s first volume of The Female Gaze in Art and Photography, she began a vivid conversation with contemporary artists across continents, each of them exploring how their “female gaze” shaped the way they looked at, and remade, the world. It was bold, intimate and immediate.

Now, in The Female Gaze Volume Two, Selzer widens the frame, as she features 20 women artists and photographers from Australia and around the world whose vision, Selzer insists, has too often been left in the shadows.

“I want my readers to be aware that the female gaze is not a new phenomenon, that it has been around for centuries,” she said.

“It is about women’s perspectives, their points of view, their subjectivity, life experiences and observations about the times and world they live in.”

Selzer felt that creating a book about significant female artists would give them visibility and a presence in art history.