Returning the Gaze

Returning the Gaze 25A, excerpt

Returning the Gaze 6, excerpt

Returning The Gaze 25 B, excerpt

Returning the Gaze, 10A-2, excerpt

Returning the Gaze presents uninterrupted, slow-motion shots of crowds gathered along the margins of parades.

Although the parade is what originally drew the crowd together, it remains just outside the frame. As individuals become aware of the camera’s gaze, they shift their attention away from the parade and toward the lens. Some meet it directly, their stares steady and unguarded; others glance quickly, uncertain or playful. This subtle turning transforms the work into an exchange: the spectators themselves become spectacle, returning the gaze, folding the act of looking back onto the camera and the viewer.

Their faces tell their own stories: curiosity, boredom, delight, distraction. In slowing down time, the video turns these ordinary, passing emotions into something monumental, as if each person were briefly elevated into a living portrait.