Exhibitionist

Slip into this book like you would the halls of a gallery, except here you’re allowed to touch. Try on mask after mask; see how they nestle against your face. Here, there are exhibits of your favorite artists: Frida Khalo, Leonora Carrington, Faith Ringgold, but also whole wings of virgin queens and armless goddesses. Rooms of writers like Vita Sackville-West and actors like Tippi Hedren. Women from stories you wear close to your skin: Titania, the Little Mermaid, Odette from Swan Lake. Caplan expertly interrogates and subverts the concept of the fe/male gaze: who is looking, who is being looked at, and the potency in that relationship. You’ll want to linger in this gallery, even in the shadows. You’ll need to return.

-Dayna Patterson, author of O Lady, Speak Again