Mommy, Look! XL

 This is how we should look. This is how we should sound. No doubt, no remorse, no weakness. Instilled since youth, endured through manhood – the silent, predetermined pressures to be – more than, better than, never enough. We all cry for attention with the desire to be seen – if not in the arms of your mother then through the eyes of some other. Now wipe your tears, man up – don’t ever let them see you cry.

By holding onto the classic and outdated image that’s stimulated and perpetuated, the one dimensionality of what it means to be a ‘man’; ‘Mommy, Look!’ exposes where the borders and boundaries are set. The enduring show of strength and force that perpetuate this sometimes toxic cycle. Five cisgender men, in their arena of masculinity, trapped in the stereotype, slowly crumble and reveal their vulnerability. Embattled and worn down the other man’s shoulder baring comfort and solid ground.