”I dreamt I was a man luckily when I woke up, I was still a boy"

 Small Faces, Guild home video. 1996

 

“Too many boys are trapped in the same suffocating, outdated model of masculinity where manhood is measured in terms of strength, where there is no way of showing vulnerability without being emasculated and where manliness is about having power over others. They are trapped and they don’t even have the language to talk about how they feel about it, because the language that exists to discuss the full range of human emotions is still viewed as sensitive and feminine.”

Michael Ian Black The boys are not all right, The New York Times, Feb,21,2018

 

In a world where men are more than ever confused about what it is to be a man thus pushing the boundaries of the traditional concepts of masculinity. my last project 'Kingdom' and its investigation around these concepts within the biker culture, where gender roles are embedded in an ‘Ideology of masculinity’ Within this two-year exploration pushed my thought process to where does this 'Manliness' begin.

 

New ground, old scars. Since the Breakdown in 2020 of my relationship with my ever-developing son (Cody), and an ongoing discussion of how to repair a landscape, created by my own history of a toxic, hyper masculine relationship I had with my father. This new work is a discovery not just my journey of understanding my history but creating a new discussion around masculinity and how it affects those males on the cusp of “manhood”. 

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I employ such methods of collaboration, history with both my son and other boys of similar age to openly discuss masculine rites, vulnerability and physical connections to one another and the spaces in which they exist.