Men are supposed to be the norm, the default definition. Thus, masculinity is seldom questioned, or deconstructed, as femininity has been in the past decades. However, toxic gender expectations and norms affect and restrain men as well.  These photos question the unpopular, unusual, or even forbidden representations of men : vulnerable, tender, affectionate, sensual, nurturing, cute... Whatever is deemed not stereotypically masculine. 

Blossom Boys

I’m always sad to realize how easily tricked people are by images.I work as a photographer, but also as a model, and sometimes as a photoshop editor, so, I know the tricks. I know them well. Maybe my eyes are used to see the truth behind, so I’m not even paying attention any longer ?But seeing the growing insecurities and complexes people (and, let’s be honest, when I say people, I think mostly cis & trans women) seem to get nowadays from the amount of images bombarded at us, from the medias, in fashion, magazines, movies, or on street boards ; I can’t help to question my own work and the impact of these images I produced, too. 

These past years, I’ve been trying to progressively shoot and post pictures that feel more sincere to me, more natural, closer to what I see and what I want to show. That might make some laugh, since I work mostly with natural light, and I know I’m considered like an already-very-light-handed retoucher in my line of work. And although it’s true I photoshop little to nothing, it also raises the question of the “honesty” of a picture. Of course we shoot on flattering lights (in a way, for me, it’s all about it). Of course we will twist a body to make it looks the way we find beautiful, and try to catch the best angles so the features of a face are the most pleasant, or striking, the expression we are looking for…. When it’s what we want to show. Sometimes it’s not even a conscious act any longer, it’s like, a reflex. But I reckon we shoot the same a landscape or a still-life : composition, light, balance, that’s what matters. It’s always a kind of scenery. I’m not a photo-reporter, I’m not showing dramatic events and politics. I’m not shooting factual or hyper-realistic ; I’m shooting the beauty of a moment, or a creation. I think. I fancy thinking my photography works are like visual poems. I’m attracted to emotions, and beauty yes, and the emotions this beauty will convey - be it a wonderful face or a perfectly shaped architecture, or a sun ray or a pattern - and beauty is a very fluid and different concept for any of us. Still, it is my job, and my intent, to create appealing pictures.

So I won’t feel bad for enhancing some beautiful subjects, or taking flattering pictures of them. But when it comes to people, there is an issue, because we grew so accustomed with the heavy editing we don’t even realize it’s an image, a screened-window on reality, not the reality.I’ve seen my fair share of skin textures and colours and depth, eye-bags, bruises, cellulites, stretch marks, ingrown hair, scars…. I also struggled with my perception of my own “bad skin”. I remember saying countless times to any model worrying about “a little zit on my bum” or they so-called “bad-skin-today” that EVERY ONE has pores, zits, skin blemishes and imperfections that make us humans, and that’s fine and don’t make you less beautiful or less interesting. Then I suppose in this sea of perfected images, we need lots of reminder.

I shot this as a kind of scale. One picture without any edition, raw as it came.

The next one, just the slightest usual light and color correction.

La trahison des images

At the beginning of this pandemic, stuck in a new country, I started a group chat with some queer friends to keep contact and exchange the darkest memes, like any proper millennial. This group quickly became an infinite source of fun and distraction, a moral support, a group therapy, an activists incubator, and also turned into a serie of virtual photoshoots, later joined with other models friends.

Virtual Invocations

As a hypersensitive queer person in this patriarchal world, I ingested a lot of toxic stereotypes and fears, thus I grew up with the pervasive idea that I needed to be strong, tough, and emotionally guarded, to survive. However, like all human beings, I thrive within nurturing relationships, meaningful loves, and truthful connections. I tried to navigate between my yearning for being transparent and open enough to truly bond, and the fear of being vulnerable, weak, therefore, hurt. 
 
Lora Mathis says: "radical softness is the idea that unapologetically sharing your emotions is a political move and a way to combat the societal idea that feelings are a sign of weakness. " Beyond radical softness, I want to explore and celebrate radical tenderness, towards ourselves, and the others, to represent our ways of sharing and connecting with the world.

Radical Tenderness, for me, also has to do with queer identities, gender deconstruction, and above all, the refusal of toxic masculinity. I want to go away from the emotion-less, sexualized bodies depicted by the male-gaze imagery, in order to represent fully-incarnated, sentient, human beings. We often confuse emotional, tender, friendly intimacy, with sexual intimacy - even if the two aren't, obviously, mutually exclusive. Maybe a lot of unhappiness comes from people mistaking one for another or thinking one will inherently lead to the other. Can we educate our eyes to see further ? How do we offer new points of views, and different perspectives ? I seek to capture some raw presences, hesitation, fluidity and wonder. The shift between our own projections, and the others’ inner worlds, the point where they meet. I want to show the beauty of affinities, bondings, joy, care, compassion, abandon, the corporeal and emotional pleasures as means of opening up, and the kindness of it all. 


Tendresse Radicale

Anaïs, Cherry, Rémie, AvA, Q'Amar - Gender identities outside the gender binary and straight normativity.

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Dwam Ipomée