In the following I am going to analyze how staring works and how the disabled body is portrayed and perceived in this photograph and the ones we discussed in class. Photography authorizes staring and enables partial communication between the sitter and the viewer.

In the photograph “Mexican dwarf in his hotel room in N.Y.C. 1970” you can see a man sitting on a bed. He is naked besides a towel around his hips, a hat and a mustache. His left arm leans casually on the bedside table, next to a bottle of alcohol and he is looking directly in the camera. He seems laddish, cool even macho-like or patronizing because of his facial expression and body language. There is a stress on his disability because one can see his feet under the towel and therefore assess his stunted growth, other than that he is portrayed as the typical Mexican womanizer. The sitter does not seem to be embarrassed of his disability. He wants to polarize and display that he can “get all the ladies”. Therefore he seeks to be stared at and to communicate with the viewer. Staring works for me as a tool to communicate with him and to get to know his story. I do not feel ashamed of staring or pity for him but rather invited to stare.

On may 5th we were presented several portraits. The portraits of burn survivors from the “State of Grace” series seem to make us feel watched because they are looking directly in the camera as if they want to tell us their story, similar to the “Mexican dwarf”. However, you can only see the burn survivors’ faces and have to guess the rest of their story. The “Mexican dwarf” on the other side portrays himself as a womanizer and thereby directs our perception of him. The portrait of Simi Linton, on the cover of her memoir “My Body Politic”, looks like a typical holiday picture. Even though she smiles in the camera, contrary to the “Mexican dwarf”, she does not seem to look directly at us. Linton’s portrait appears to be unintentional whereas the “Mexican dwarfs” photograph is staged intentionally. In the portrait of “Harriet” her wheelchair is prominent and there is a stress on her disability. She seems lost in it because of her crouched stance but she radiates positivity by confidently smiling in the camera. Similar to the “Mexican dwarf” she appears to be content with her disability and enables communication with the viewer. #HospitalGlam is a series of selfies published on various social media networks. The sitter poses with a cane in an examination room with painted toenails and fashionable clothes. The contrast between hospital and glamour seems controversial and unfamiliar for most people. As well as the “Mexican dwarf” her photographs are staged to tell us her story and challenge us.
On may 12th we discussed breast cancer awareness advertisements. There is a clear contrast between the sexiness of the women’s body and their disability. Similar to the “Mexican dwarf” the stress is on their disability. They invite us to stare and want to appear sexy. Both do not hide their body and appear self-confident. In contrast to the “Mexican dwarf”, with the breast cancer advertisements I, as a woman, feel addressed to act and help. Furthermore the “CKone” mockup, without a face, communicates with the viewers and makes them think about the cause. Because you cant see to woman’s face it feels like it could be any woman. In the “Cosmopolitan” mockup the woman appears to be confident about posing with her disability and the headlines around her want to inform about the cause and therefore communicate with the viewer.
All of these personalities are portrayed confident with their disability and open for communication and staring. In a photograph, staring from the viewers point can be more intensively because the disabled body is absent. At first it is seemingly a one-way communication, but because the photographs are staged in a certain way they seem to enable communication between the sitter and us. In my reception they awoke curiosity about their stories. Photography authorizes staring because the sitter gets the opportunity to narrate how he wants to be regarded and the viewer can stare longer because he does not have to feel ashamed of staring. But photography is just able to portray partial communication. The viewer is only allowed a limited point of view. It is the sitter’s subjective self-presentation.