FLOWERS FOR HIM

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Each piece in this collection is a painting created directly onto a man’s back and subsequently photographed; the body serves as the canvas, and the photograph as the only surviving form of the work. 

 

The back, so often interpreted as a site of strength, breadth, and stoicism, instead becomes a place where something delicate can bloom. This reversal exposes a tension inherent to the male experience: while masculinity demands toughness, the body beneath remains human, and fragility is an intrinsic part of being human. The paintings do not impose softness upon the man; rather, they reveal a softness that was already there, concealed by the performance he has been taught to enact. 

 

This project reflects on how rarely softness is offered to men, and on what it might mean to receive it nonetheless.  

 

This project is ongoing.