Woman as object of male gaze in some works of Nigerian artists.

Abstract

This essay interrogates visual representations of women in the fine arts especially paintings and drawings by Nigerian male artists. In it, I question how numerous issues pertaining to gender, sexuality and sexual differences are imagined and contested through artworks. I analyze some artworks by contemporary Nigerian male artists to see what layers of male gaze are in the Nigerian art scenario. I also take on the argument that some Nigerian male artists‟ perception of women in paintings reflects in most cases, the overriding traditional understanding of the woman as the differential, sexualized, and passive and equally subservient „other.‟ The essay raises questions about the stereotypical stance of women as inferior and irrational beings, unable to engage critically and often understood from their ascribed inert domestic or sexual roles. This is in opposition to representations of men in pictures as engaging, assertive and active. The essay shows how the artist‟s (usually male) narcissistic imaginative creations are imagined in the public space, as reality.