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print this pageFraming Masculinity: The Male Subject in Photographic History and Practice
John Clarke
Friday, October 10 - 3:20PM to 3:55PM
College for Creative Studies
While photography has long engaged with critical dialogues on gender, race, and sexuality, conversations around contemporary masculinity remain under explored in both history and studio curricula. This presentation argues for further development of masculinity as a subject of critical inquiry in photographic education. The proposed presentation will present masculinity as broad area for students and educators to investigate through a post-modern and feminist lens.
Drawing on my own creative work — which explores weaponized aesthetics, boyhood iconography, and the male body — I will frame masculinity as a constructed identity that is reinforced and communicated through images. From 19th-century portraits of Abraham Lincoln and Eugene Sandow, to Gordon Park's portraits, to contemporary artists like Matthew Barney and Loren Rex Cameron, this talk explores how photography constructs male identity, yet can also limit critical discussion of some of the challenges face men in America.
I will also connect these ideas to current social discourses, including the "manosphere," body dysmorphia, political masculinity, and male isolation. By drawing on pop cultural, from Fight Club to hamburger commercials, I will outline how visual tropes around masculinity shape generational narratives and can influence students and classroom discussions.
This session is intended for educators, artists, and historians interested in expanding gender conversation to include masculinity not as a given, but as a critically visualized and teachable construct. The final section will include suggested artists, readings, and classroom strategies for integrating these themes into both studio and history courses.
speaker
John Clarke
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