First Exhibit: How to Use Your Eyes…
What happens if we stop and take the time to look more carefully at the world around us, James Elkins asks in his book How to Use Your Eyes.
Elkins promises that it is possible to learn to see anything by learning to use the eyes “more concertedly and with more patience than you might ordinarily do.” This simply involves “stopping and taking the time to simply look, and keep looking, until the details of the world slowly reveal themselves” (ix)
Through a meticulous examination of the unspectacular, unnoticed objects and practices of our everyday world, Elkins offers a methodology akin to the close-reading methods of literary studies to make the world become thick with meaning.
I hope this…will inspire every reader to stop and consider things that are absolutely ordinary, things so clearly meaningless that they never seemed worth a second thought. Once you start seeing them, the world—which can look so dull, so empty of interest—will gather before your eyes and become thick with meaning. – James Elkins, How to Use Your Eyes.
Elkins shows us how to look at grass, culverts, an x-ray, moth wings, and Egyptian scarabs. He shows us how to look at the devices we use for looking, such as maps or the inside of the eye. He even wonders about how we might appear to the eyes of a scallop, showing us that our own ways of seeing are merely one among many ways of seeing on this earth.
The work collected in this exhibit follow Elkins’ lead as they strive to show us how to look at things. The objects and practices from the everyday world that are examined here are diverse: articles such as salt, coins, lipstick, cameras, mirrors, windows, wilted spinach, keys, socks, the sky, the hands and faces of loved ones, and much more receive detailed, thoughtful treatment. Under the writers’ gazes, we see the world subtly transform.
Enjoy the new perspectives.
– Monique Tschofen and Dan Browne, Ryerson University (c) 2017
Images in this online exhibition are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.
Works Cited
Elkins, James. How to Use Your Eyes. Routledge, 2000.
2022: Exhibits
How to Look at a DSLR
Sariya Adnan
How to Look at Cherry Blossoms
Natasha Budhai
How to Look at Neon Signs
Veronicaline Daan
How to Look at a Video Game Case
William Downey
How to Look at a Pomegranate
Cristal Gillette
How To Look At A Sunset
Fatima Hammoud
How to look at a dive watch
Caleb Hara
How to Look at a Teacup and Saucer
Devon Harvey
How To Look at a Shadow
Andy Huang
How to Look at an Outstretched Hand
Julia McGolrick
How to look at Jhumka Earrings
Jayani Patel
How to Look at a Hand Fan
Tricia Simpson
How to Look at Cheese
Veron Zhou
2020: Exhibits
How to Look at a Snowflake
Naomi Shafadov
How to Look at a Table
Richie Ocean
How to Look at a Working Mom
Darline Hasrama
How to Look at The Bloor Street Viaduct
Emma Fraschetti
How to Look at Wearing Headphones
Kali Luckhee
How to Look at Colonization Road
Alexandria Carter Soligo
How to Look at an Electric Guitar
Declan MacIntosh
How to Look at a Chair
Shanese Dullal
How to Look at Lesbian Jesus
Vicky (Maria) di Donato
How to Look at My Mom
Katherine Gory
How to Look at a Sunflower
Daelle Shannon
How to Look at a Cross-Stitched Tapestry
Kelley Doane
How to Look at Bubble Tea
Joanne Stromska
2018: Exhibits
How to Look at a Toque
Cassandra Abas
How to Look at Handwriting
Kailey Adams
How to Look at Clouds
Aoife Banas
How to Look at a Couple
Natasha Daley
How to Look at a Mirror
Sabrina Gamrot
How to Look at a Claddagh Ring
Courtney MacKerricher
How to Look at The Wrist Watch
Nikki Shapiro
How to Look at a Life
Alessia Savino
How to Look at Plants
Matthew Tse
How to Look at a Serval
Matthew Luna
How to Look at a Candle
Stephanie Palumbo
2017: Exhibits
How to Look Ayeyo in Her Eyes
Farheya Ahmed
How to Look at a Mosaic
Daisy Barker
How to Look at Hands
Britney Barnes
How to Look at Keys
Elijah Bassett
How To Look At Heaven
Amanda Conrad
How to Look at a White Cane
Kelly Craigen
How to Look at the Canadian Dollar Coin
Marceleen Ehrig
How to Look at Rock Salt
Jennifer Elliott
How to look at blue lipstick
Christina Esposito
How to Look at a Heart
Karolina Fedorci
How to Look at a Palm
Marion Grant
How to look at a record player
Jaclyn Hawkins
How to Look at Tattoos
Jesse Boland
How to Look at a Window
Philip Johnston
How to Look at a Mirror
Josh Kemp
How to Look at a Supermarket Aisle
Reuben Kiblitsky
How To Look At Death
Alexis Kuskevics
How to See a Framed Flower
Samantha Lacy
How to Look at Your Hair
Alex Lalonde
How to look at a photograph of a live band.
Kelsey McCormick
How to Look at A Clock
Joselle Mendoza
How to Look at a Bedroom
William Moo
How to Look at My Baby Cousin
Soujanan Muraleethar
How to Look at The Box
Elisabeth Nardi
How To Look at A Dog’s Nose
Emily Offenbacher
How to Look at Smoke
Moss O’Flaherty-Chan
How to Look at Wilted Spinach
Kristina Pantalone
How to Look at the End of the World
Matthew Perfetti
How to look at a Chinese Knotting
Sijia Qian
How to Look at a Polaroid Camera
Raquel Arcenio
How to Look at Atmosphere in Video Games
Kristian Saflor
How to Look at Magic Cards
Sidney Drmay
How to look at a picture of a recently completed tattoo
Monika Sidhu
How to Look at Eye Colour
Jessica Sirro
How to Look at a Painter’s Palette
Nicole Sumner
How to Look at A Heartfelt Sky
Matthew Varao
How to Look at Socks
Zuha Ziaee