MASCULINITIES. LIBERATION THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

Who run the world?


Women are running for their empowerment and freedom from the patriarchate. The "Me too" movement is only an example of how women are creating a group - build on solidarity - to bring awareness on the rights of females. Beyoncé, in one of her most famous songs, sings “who run the world? Girls”.

A toxic idea of masculinity 

But what about men?
“The image of masculinity has come into sharper focus, with ideas of toxic and fragile masculinity permeating today’s society”.
This is the reason behind the new exposition at Barbican in London and called “Masculinities. Liberation through Photography”. In the traditional society not all men have the power and the freedom to decide who they are, only the white straight men from the middle class, namely the hegemonic class. And the other? They have no spaces to express themselves and most of the time they are brought to be ashamed of themselves. As Luke Turner wrote in "Putting men in the frame: images of a new masculinity” published by The Guardian:
 “The male mind and body are frequently in a turmoil of shame and self-denial, resulting in a mental health crisis that means suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK”
The exhibition will lead to everybody the "subculture" of the contemporary men, not the hegemonic ones, but all of them that usually people put in the corner, that are seen like strange or not fit in the traditional meaning of man. More than 50 artists (only some names, Laurie Anderson, Sunil Gupta, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Isaac Julien, Cathgerine Opie) speak, with their photographic works, about power, patriarchy, queer identify, female perception of men, hypermasculine stereotypes, tenderness and the family. Why? Because, always quoting Luke Turner, "Toxicity in male identity is not elemental and inevitable”.





I decide who I wanna be 


“Masculinities. Liberation trough photography” at Barbicon of London is a small temporary exhibition (Thu 20 Feb – Sun 17 March 2020) but a big step to destroy the stereotype of what a man is and empower all the men we are surrounded by.

Photo: * The photo is public and it is used by many different sources

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