The Annenberg Space for Photography’s latest installation, located in Starlight Studios, “#girlgaze” explores how girls perceive themselves in the ever-changing world around them. A collection of diverse pictures, in different media, taken by young women and girls from all across the world aims to show young women’s lives and struggles.
The exhibit focuses on topics that affect girls in their daily lives,  especially how they see issues that are most important to them. Pictures represent the stories they want to tell to the world. Some of the photographs also show the artists’ relationships with other people, their living situations and self portraits.
A focal point of the exhibition is the idea of a “girl’s inner world.” Photographers use their photos to explore girls’ darker sides that they hide from the world. Artists tried to capture through self portraits how girls deal with family issues, eating disorders and depression. One diptych, “A Diary from the 5 years I lived with an Eating Disorder,” depicts in one frame a blurred girl in a crouched position, and in the second a girl tiredly looking up at the camera above with a slightly open mouth.
Another part of the exhibition uses the theme “this is me” to make a statement against the media’s effects on young women. This portion of the exhibit features photos of girls expressing the rawness of themselves as they push against the societal norms and stigmas created by their culture. This section includes pictures of girls making the choice not to shave their armpits or having a different body type from what the media deems as “fit.”
In the last part of the gallery, the photos suggest the importance of a private safe space for girls where they can just be themselves, learn and experiment without fear of  judgment.
This exhibit is important for girls and young women to see because it shows them that being who they are is good enough, and that they don’t always have to be perfect. It teaches girls to be confident in their flaws and lets them realize that the are not facing the world alone.
The exhibit runs through Sunday, Feb. 26th, and is open on Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It also incorporates aspects of social media by having many of the pictures labeled with the artist and their Instagram username, and by having its own Instagram under the handle, @girlgazeproject, which shows some pieces from the gallery.