What does it mean to be a man? Is it following the socially structured stereotype of physical strength, brute mentality and emotional apathy? Or does it run deeper? If embodying the masculine means compartmentalizing the human emotional and spiritual experience, what are men living for? This piece is an exploration of the masculine subconscious; the emotional, the tender, the inherently “feminine”. The male figure stands in the middle of the space, donned in a white exoskeleton strapped to his limbs. An emotional wall, a solid defense. He hobbles, his armor is rigid, obstructing his movement, leaving him struggling to compensate. In his hands he holds a lifeless bird, limp and cold. A metaphor for transition, a sliver of the soul shed in a battle of love and loss. For the duration of the piece he struggles to reanimate it, tenderly rubbing it and lifting it by the wings, a desperate attempt to make it stand and wake again. As time passes, he realizes it’s fate, but accepting loss is too much to bear. He reaches out to the audience for help, moaning and wailing with despair. The tender, the emotional, the “feminine”. A guttural cry from within the walls of structured masculine apathy. A true connection with the human spirit.

Video Documentation by Eleanor Lawler
Photographic Documentation by Alan Delmar.