One the of roles of a public library is to support literacy and education through the resources and services they offer.
As a bridge to knowledge and culture, libraries create opportunities for shaping new ideas and perspectives, which are important if a society is to be inclusive, equitable, and innovative in its approach to economic, social, and cultural issues.
Airdrie Public Library (APL) has a new exhibit on our walls called The Male Gaze, which some might find challenging, but will certainly spur conversation.
The exhibit from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program explores what it means to be a man. According to the exhibit’s press release, boys and men are often faced with such statements as “be a man,” or “man up,” but what, exactly, does this mean?
“In feminist theory, the phrase ‘the male gaze’ refers to the act of depicting women in the visual arts and literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents women as objects for the pleasure of the male viewer,” the release states.
The release goes on to say The Male Gaze disrupts this assumption by presenting the work of three male artists from Edmonton who investigate what it means or could mean to 'be a man.’
The history of masculinity and the nature of gender identity have been debated by psychology and gender theorists since the 1980s, and these debates, the release argues, “has led to the concept of ‘toxic’ masculinity and a belief, in some circles, of a ‘crisis’ in masculinity, which has found a voice in social and political clashes throughout the world.”
This exhibit addresses these conflicts and invites viewers to consider and question the character and roles of men in society through both the lens of history and in the present day.
For more information on APL’s art exhibits or any of the library’s programs and services, visit airdriepubliclibrary.ca, call 403-948-0600, or drop by our Main Street facility.
