Softcover catalogue for the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts’ exhibition Unmasking Masculinity for the 21st Century. 92 pages.
By Rehema C. Barber, KIA Chief Curator and Larry Ossei-Mensah, Independent Curator, with contributions from Jeff Chang, Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Anuradha Vikram, and Maurice Wallace.
Presenting works culled from the KIA’s collection, combined with borrowed works from around the U.S., Unmasking Masculinity for the 21st Century investigates how artists use tradition, contemporary practice, and performance to explore the construction of masculinity in North America. Unmasking Masculinity for the 21st Century aims to survey the construction of masculinity among diverse communities and individuals, as well as how artists have responded to, reframed, or reclaimed the concept of masculinity throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. The exhibition explores the construction of masculinity beyond biological traits to examine the ways in which it intersects with various social factors such as gender, race, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. Unmasking Masculinity investigates how all of these factors continue to influence understandings of masculine identities today.