The Feeling of Being Looked At | Kate Mosher Hall

The Feeling of Being Looked At (2020) represents a poetic manifesto by Kate Mosher Hall. Hall’s artistic research deeply questions the act of looking and its relational implications, the meaning of observing and being observed and the bond that is created between two beings in mutual gaze.
On Hall’s canvas, in front of the shadows of animals as dark as ghosts, a dark grid separates the two planes of vision, like a not perfectly closed shutter that allows glimmers of light to pass between its rods. The observer looks at the canvas and realizes that he is being observed by the animal ghosts that are on the other side. An initial feeling of uneasiness gives way to the relief of actually being safe; the realization of being observed alerts the senses so that the gaze that stares can be supported and returned, to restore balance in the relationship between the eyes.

The Feeling of Being Looked At explores the possibilities of vision, the relationships of power that these establish and the spaces offered to the eye: Hall represents on the canvas the visual relationship between two individuals, defining their boundaries, traits, obstacles and opportunities.

©Kate Mosher Hall, The Feeling of Being Looked At, 2020
Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas
152.4×182.9 cm
Unique
(HALL-2020-0032)
Courtesy of the artist and Tanya Leighton, Berlin Photography: Dan Finlayson