Den bortvända kvinnan

Om subjektivitet i tolkningar av ett bildmotiv

Abstract

Having collected seventy-six photographs and paintings of women seen from behind the author is reflecting on the meaning of this motive. Why have the photographers and the painters, mostly men from four centuries, chosen to represent the women by their backs? Are the women just (secretly) observed from behind, or are they actively turning away from the gaze of the onlooker? The author decides for the second interpretation and makes a connection to experiences of averted women in his own childhood and marriages. The conclusive question is: How subjective may a cultural researcher be doing reflexive interpretations?