what is it that women most desire?
Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath’s Tale” A knight who has been found guilty of raping a lady of the court [...] is given a one-year reprieve on his death sentence to go in quest of the right answer. Consensual, freely given mastery is best, but Chaucer’s narrator, the cynical and worldly Wife of Bath, knows that women want (that is, lack) power, and they will take whatever kind they can get.
what is it that pictures most desire?
please just ask us.
a pause
please just ask us. Pictures would want to be worth a lot of money; they would want to be admired and praised as beautiful; they would want to be adored by many lovers. But above all they would want a kind of MASTERY over the beholder. We should question pictures about their desires instead of looking at them as vehicles of meaning or instruments of power. Be open to asking. Ask for CONSENT. Don’t demand anything from the picture. Like women and minorities, pictures are SUBALTERN. We must give them a chance to speak before we judge. Much like subaltern studies, they hope to bring awareness and power back to their group.
a pause
Picture
Viewer
Artist
Picture A picture may want “nothing�.
Viewer Interpret only during the discussion with others. Not when you are looking at a picture. Focus on asking and listening to the picture.
Artist
noun /sәb΄ôltәrn/ 1. an officer in the British army below the rank of captain, especially a second lieutenant. adjective /sәb΄ôltәrn/ 1. of lower status.
Subaltern