I Am Watching You
Three young women in profile depicted in a style that references 17th century portrait paintings appear to be trying to catch somebody’s gaze. Without moving their heads, they try to detect who is gazing at them. They struggle to see yet not turning their heads; they hold the gaze yet avoiding being noticed. Brigitte Lustenberger’s ‘I Am Watching You’ refers to her other series ‘Watching’. The women in ‘I Am Watching You’ go one step further than the women in ‘Watching’ and address the voyeur/the viewer by holding the gaze at the camera. The title ‘I Am Watching You’ addresses both the implied voyeur in the image/the viewer of the image who looks at the women and the woman who is about to detect the implied voyeur/the viewer. By gazing at the viewer, the women challenge the viewer and force him or her to reflect on his or her own activity of looking: What or who am I looking at – and who is looking at me?
