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For years Dyke March participants have complained
about the countless cameras lining the route, presumably carried by
straight men hoping to snap shots of bare-breasted babes or
girl-on-girl action. This year a group of women decided to turn the
tables on the photo-graphers and turn them into the spectacle.
Turn The Gays (Gaze) Around was a project conceived of
by Gaye Chan, an art history professor at the University Of Hawaii.
With the help of a couple of local friends, Chan set about documenting
the Dyke March's paparazzi.
"We spread out at the march," says
Chan. "Actually, we simply lost each other.... Most [photo subjects]
did not notice because there were a million cameras and/or they were
too focussed on their intended subject. Though they might see us in
their photos later.
"Some were confused or thought we were
confused. Some probably assumed I was a tourist and just dismissed the
oddity of my behaviour as culture miscomprehension. Some tried to move
out of the way, thinking they were in the way. Some were annoyed,
especially if we singled out a particular prey and stalked him. A few
thought it was funny and hammed for our cameras. A rare few would first
be confused, then shrugged in realization that it was only fair."
For
Chan, the project ties into her academic work and builds on various
social and cultural theories about what it means to see and be seen.
"My
interest is not simply to turn the table and collect trophies of
paparazzi, but to demonstrate how photography can turn everything into
a trophy to collect and display."
Chan is hoping that the idea will spread to other Dyke Marches.
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| For more info and to see photos captured at the 2006 Dyke March go to Gayechan.com/paparazzi. |
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