Quaderni di Venezia Arti

Series | Quaderni di Venezia Arti
Edited book | A Driving Force
Chapter | The Object Looks Back: Paraesthetic Vision in Portrait de la jeune fille en feu and Optic Nerve

The Object Looks Back: Paraesthetic Vision in Portrait de la jeune fille en feu and Optic Nerve

Abstract
Focusing on Céline Sciamma’s film, Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019) and Maria Gaínza’s novel, Optic Nerve (2014), I turn to two texts interested in the structure of vision to interrogate gendered dynamics of power. By formalizing alternate relations between subjects and objects, the portrait offers a space to negotiate the unidirectional and subordinating logic of the seeing subject. Focusing on interventions that interrupt and collapse the positions of the viewer and the viewer, both texts employ paraesthetic articulations of the gaze to redress the imbalance inherent in our conception of vision.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Sept. 17, 2023 | Accepted: Oct. 30, 2023 | Published Dec. 22, 2023 | Language: en

Keywords Portrait de la jeune fille en fewOptic NerveAutotheoryCrossmappingNew FormalismGazeVisual cultureParaestheticsPortrait de la jeune fille en feuVisual Culture


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