In Dowling’s work All eyes (the object becomes the observer), the artist is exploring notions of power, agency and control and what it means when the ‘object’ reclaims the gaze and becomes an active observer. The work consists of many painted eyes on reconstructed white cotton shirts, exaggerated leg-of-mutton sleeves and elongated arm lengths. Everywhere you look, there is a watchful eye looking back at you.
This work is inspired by a quote by French film-maker Agnès Varda who said: “The first feminist gesture is to say: “OK, they’re looking at me. But I’m looking at them.” The act of deciding to look, of deciding that the world is not defined by how people see me, but how I see them.”
All eyes (the object becomes the observer), 2026, acrylic paint on reconstructed second-hand cotton shirts, plastic buttons, glass bead, 104 x 53 x 20cm, photos by Tobias Titz
