The Basic idea of this series is to take masculine objects in the American Urban and Suburban environment and re-depict them out of context as a means of starting a conversation about how masculinity is constructed in our society. Furthermore it serves to show just how pervasive the construct of hegemonic masculinity has become through this conversation.
These associations with masculinity arrived in American society through a multitude of different routes and they were further reinforced through popular culture and expanded by further being passed on through the generations. As part of the Undergraduate Research/Creative Work Fellowship at Indiana University Southeast, this work was created as part of a trip to New York City where photos and videos were captured of masculine objects and spaces. While traveling around the city, I constantly had at least one camera with me to capture these masculine things. The objects are taken out of their context to show the arbitrary nature of these connections to masculinity. Additionally, all of the media was captured using a technique which creates voyeuristic feel by further separating the viewer from the subject of the photo or video. This technique further creates a feeling of these objects and spaces being some kind of laboratory specimen. Finally, the three display formats used in this series further shows how the connections the objects have to masculinity are continuously repeated and ingrained in American society. The Photo wall references the prevalence of advertising and marketing, the monitor represents TV and mass-media, and the books represent published and print media.
Overall, the ideas of what it means to be masculine is entirely constructed and arbitrary. It is through these small associations that the larger idea of masculinity is constructed and is used to police individuals into fitting into this traditional hegemonic masculine structure.