[Style] Masculine Floatability

Is masculinity floating?

When it comes to masculinity, what the image comes cross ur mind, a macho man, or a vulnerable boy?

Reverse the Gaze
There are two female photographers show us the diversity of masculinity through their lens. One is Amy Elkins, based in the Greater Los Angeles area. Another is Liz Calvi. These two different female photographers have two things in common, reversing the traditional male-on-female gaze and questing the gender-based stereotypes and male identities.

Elegant Violence

Amy Elkins challenges societal notions of masculinity by doing male’s portrait. She did some series to push the limit of masculinity. In a series titled "Elegant Violence”, she photographed young rugby players immediately after the game. She did sort of same series titled "Danseur”, capturing portraits of young male dancers’, age from 12 to 28, moments after intensive training. "Wallflower" was the series she put males in front of her lens with floral wall print and stripped their clothing or any other context that would point to their personal self. 

         wallflower

Liz Calvi captured a new generation of young men, age from 18 to 26, who live back with their family in “Lost Boys”. The Huffington Post comments that her images depict what's often referred to, for better or worse, as the "Peter Pan" generation for their refusal to grow up, hovering slightly above reality, outside of categorization.

Lost Boys

The diverse interpretations of what it means to be masculine are their main concepts they want to deliver to the world.

Norm or Normalize?
Male always stars as superhero in big screen and this normalize and influence our value secretly. Our society has created a role for men, a role with strong, tough, and macho character. Yet who says that male only have one aspect to show.

Danseur

Masculinity is diversity and floating.

Amy Elkins presents both vulnerability and strength in different portrayals of male identity. We can see after intense physical 80 minutes games, the dirt on uniforms and the wounds come away with those rugby players in "Elegant Violence”. The dancers stand before the lens with sweating clothes and hair but with strong eyes-contact or pose.

As for “Lost Boys”, Liz Calvi said that she hopes that people see a more vulnerable, contemplative side to these boys in lieu of all the stereotypes about our generation and male gender roles.

These boys show their masculinity in different way, the way which is opposed to our norm. Even though, u can’t say that they don’t belong to masculinity.

Btw, I am very curious about that the output will be the same if the photographer is a male? Will he capture the same image as Elkins and Calvi do or depict another kind of image?