Through the medium of film and photography, this major exhibition considers how masculinity has been coded, performed, and socially constructed from the 1960s to the present day. Examining depictions of masculinity from behind the lens, the exhibition brings together the work of over 50 international artists, photographers and filmmakers including Laurie Anderson, Sunil Gupta, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Isaac Julien and Catherine Opie. In the wake of #MeToo, the image of masculinity has come into sharper focus, with ideas of toxic and fragile masculinity permeating today’s society. This exhibition charts the often complex and sometimes contradictory representations of masculinities, and how they have developed and evolved over time.
Touching on themes including power, patriarchy, queer identity, racial politics, female perceptions of men, hypermasculine stereotypes, tenderness and the family, the exhibition examines the critical role photography and film have played in the way masculinities are imagined and understood in contemporary culture.
Bas Jan Ader (1945-1975), Laurie Anderson (1947), Kenneth Anger (1927), Knut Åsdam (1968), Richard Avedon (1923-2004), Aneta Bartos, Richard Billingham (1970), Cassils (1975), Sam Contis (1982), John Coplans (1920‑2003), Rineke Dijkstra (1959), George Dureau (1930-2014), Thomas Dworzak (1972), Hans Eijkelboom (1949), Fouad Elkoury (1952), Rotimi Fani‑Kayode (1955-1989), Hal Fischer (1950), Samuel Fosso (1962), Anna Fox (1961), Masahisa Fukase (1934-2012), Sunil Gupta (1953), Peter Hujar (1934‑1987), Liz Johnson Artur (1964), Isaac Julien (1960), Kiluanji Kia Henda (1979), Karen Knorr (1954), Deana Lawson (1979), Hilary Lloyd (1964), Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989), Peter Marlow (1952‑2016), Ana Mendieta (1948-1985), Annette Messager (1943), Duane Michals (1932), Tracey Moffatt (1960), Andrew Moisey (1979), Richard Mosse (1980), Adi Nes (1966), Catherine Opie (1961), Elle Pérez (1989), Herb Ritts (1952-2002), Kalen Na’il Roach (1992), Collier Schorr (1963), Paul Mpagi Sepuya (1982), Clare Strand (1973), Mikhael Subotzky (1981), Larry Sultan (1946-2009),Hank Willis Thomas (1976), Wolfgang Tillmans (1968), Piotr Uklański (1968), Karlheinz Weinberger (1921-2006), Marianne Wex (1937‑2020), David Wojnarowicz (1954‑1992), Akram Zaatari (1966)
MÉCANIQUE GÉNÉRALE
Exhibition curator: Alona Pardo.
Exposition organized by the
Barbican Centre, London
Publication: Masculinities: Liberation through Photography,
Prestel, 2020
