On Masculinity

‘On Masculinity’ is a series of lens-based, staged images using dolls and props to explore the aggressive and sexual drives men struggle to reconcile. The series was made using a reflective silver Mylar surface covered with a thin white semi opaque sheet of packing material as a background. The one consistent element used throughout the series is a neutral gray scale male doll. Additional props are enlisted throughout the series as well. All 10 images were shot in natural light from an overhead skylight. After editing and in post-production, I reverse the image and manipulate the blue/purple/gray tonal values I felt best conveyed the mood I was going for. The idea for the series has been rising within me for quite some time now. In many ways it is deeply informed by the years I spent as a psychotherapist in community-based practice with boys and men. As an instructor over the past 5 years in the Addictions Counseling Department of Portland Community College, I continue to revisit many of the same themes and issues with my male students, especially those with incarceration histories and those new to recovery themselves. The catalyst for the series was (curiously) finding the doll (or rather it found me) in a secondhand store. Not only was it gray, the head and the hands were made of latex while the rest of the body was plastic. I knew that latex absorbs light differently than hard shiny plastic. This excited me greatly. I had found my actor.