Artist Statement
Men must pursue power and control. We cannot show any emotion except anger. We cannot back down when someone disrespects us. We must show we are tough enough to inflict physical pain and take it in return. If we take a small step outside of this box, we risk being seen as soft, weak, and feminine. In response, young men learn to adopt a front for other men, a pose to take on to shield their vulnerabilities and avoid being ridiculed.
Pastel Cigars offers both a critical and reflective response to outdated but prevalent archetypes, while also creating a space for the viewer to join the conversation through snippets of interviews intermixed with the photographs. The black and white images show this front, in contrast to the intimate color portraits. All these images are encompassed in a zine, revealing a broad spectrum of men and their social conditioning. Presenting masculinity as both a performance and a culturally reproduced identity, Pastel Cigars highlights the tensions between the archetypes these men are given and their actual lives.
