Utilising performance and documentation I explore masculinity within social spaces. Seeing the body as a vessel of masculinity I'm interested in its changing value as a commodity and its place in society as modernising industry renders strength and power unnecessary.
Utilising found footage from my own previous experiences as part of male communities at university, I explore the male landscape by recontextualising the actions I see, into performances where men push the limitations of their body as proof of their dominance and success. The actions form a ritual within the church of masculinity a right of passage into the community. I question the thoughts and intentions behind seemingly pointless, painful actions and find ambition, bravado, aggression and recognition tangling together to create a spirit of collectiveness and place which is itself the reward of the group’s actions.
I explore the interchanging power between man and the reclaimed landscape of the Lincolnshire fens, having been drained and forced from the sea which now rises to reclaim it. The vast marshland is personified within hessian bags filled with silt from the Fenland shore. Our interactions create a visual discourse of the ongoing struggle to control the space. The works introduced me to the exploration of the social position of masculinity as a pointless commodity, the body becomes again a vessel of masculinity pushed to its limits to dominate the personified landscape/nature which remains immovable. The longer the performance goes on the weaker the performer becomes, yet they push on until their commodity and value as a man is diminished entirely and the dominance of the land is revealed.
