Last year we created a series of interviews, PhotoVogue Female Gaze, to develop the theme explored during the first PhotoVogue Festival in 2016, interviewing some photographers who are part of our community. This year, as we launched our Global open call, Women by Women, our will was to create a more participatory space, where women artists could dialogue and share similarities and differences in their practices and ways of observing reality. That’s why we changed the title to Female Gazes.

For its second appointment, we invited Emma Sarpaniemi and Margaret Liang for a conversation. Both Emma and Margaret use self-portraiture as a narrative method to communicate different stories and concepts. Placing their own images as the main subject in front of the camera paradoxically becomes a more transparent, direct way to distance themselves from personal experience and convey universal themes.

Putting yourself in front of a camera is always an act of trust—of giving away part of your power and control. Being both behind and in front of the lens is an act of self-determination and self-reflection.

Sarpaniemi and Liang do not shy away from their own gaze. They have created a space where they can feel at ease and challenge themselves playfully, constantly redefining their perception of themselves and the world. They investigate the reality around them and discover aspects of their identity that can only be glimpsed when viewed at a distance, captured in a photograph.

We discussed their practice, masculinity and women’s bodies, the layering of meanings in their images, the power of community, and the ups and downs of being an artist.