Isabel Boaden is a photographer based in the North of England. Using portraiture, fashion, fine art, and self-portraiture she portrays the male and female gaze and her relationship and experience with issues of objectification, feminism, societal standards, womanhood, and the female body.
“Long Hair, Don’t Care” is a self-portraiture project exploring the female body as a rejection of the objectifying gaze that uses domestic objects and performative self-portraiture. Props, colour and costume in the domestic setups construct an idea of how the female body is viewed by society and the stereotypes tied to being a woman. The project challenges the objectifying gaze by hiding parts of the face with hair and engaging the viewer with the awkward and confrontation gaze of the woman, while domestic tasks and acts are performed. This gives back control to the female subject over their body and self.
