Ambiguity

This is an extract from my dissertation: In the Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, Androgyny denotes ‘‘having characteristics of both genders’’ or ‘‘the merging of male and female attributes’’. It can also be a term used to describe ‘‘women who act like men’’, or ‘‘men who dress like women’’, or someone whose physical features make it unclear whether that person is male or female’’ (Graham, 2003: 12).The word Androgyny originates from the Greek word ‘andr’ meaning man and ‘gyne’ meaning woman, referring to the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics (Progressive Thinking, 2011). 

Androgynous people neither look male nor female. They sit in an ambiguous space, somewhere ‘in between’. In the first photograph, certain facial features that emphasize and separate males from females such as the eyebrows and eyelashes are removed. All brightness from the face is ripped away, giving it a cold, eerie look. The second series consists of two photographs, one with eyes open and one with eyes closed. They are blurred so that the viewer cannot make out the image and use their imagination to complete the image.