Gendered Presence

The only constant in this entire project is that I am present, whether others are wielding the camera or my image is made invisible due to the scope of the camera. While in this project I am often hidden behind the camera documenting the space in front of me, I am almost always present in my other creations, using the self as subject. My identity and presence influences my reading of the space, ultimately making this study a personal experience rather than a scientific study.

How am I changing the presence of the space with my white lesbian female identity? Existing in the back alleys behind Ellen Moffats studio, my presence made the space more dominating than if I was a strong masculine identity. While this could be argued that my gender makes me more vulnerable in the space, if I was a male of similar strength I may be just as vulnerable with the presence of someone else. My presence could make the space my own, except that the large empty areas hold the possibility other identities that may over power my own.

Essentially, my identity creates a certain atmosphere in the spaces I inhabit, which is reflected in this travel blog. The spaces were influenced by the identities within it, most noticeably in Banff’s tourist identity and the gendering of nature at camp. In turn these spaces influenced me, my life and who I am and each environment produced a different gendered and sexual performance from me, so in my experience, Doreen Massey was correct in saying that place influences identity and identity influences place.

My blogs are biased by my identity and restricted by the gender lines, as I could clearly see while attending the women in the kitchen at camp rather than the men on the porch by the barbeque. I was less of an influence in New York’s size, but the entire social body as a while influences the large space.