Word: Fransisca Bianca
Photos: Artsy

British photographer Cecilie Harris tries to evoke new thoughts from society of what it means to be masculine, and to be a boy that fits the criteria of being a man. Through her popular biannual print publication entitled “Boys By Girls,” Harris attempts to present visualization of boys in what she considers their natural ‘colors’ or identities. The aim of these visualizations is to present male figures as personal as possible, without making them look any less than a man no matter their nature. The emphasis of the publication would also be on ‘the female gaze’, on how female photographers may dismantle the already existing gender binaries through the way they choose to capture their subjects.

With the evolving recognition of women’s equal rights to men, and women’s position in the modern society becoming more considerable than they were just decades before, there may also be a shift in the general perception of women, whose socially-assigned characteristics and traits may not be considered as weak or embarrassing for men to also adopt as they used to be. Thomas Brodie-Sangster, one of the public figures photographed for this publication agrees with this thought as he stated that, “Every male has a feminine side.”

In its efforts to present more redefinitions of manhood, the publication also feature Solomon Golding, a gay, black male ballet dancer from London, along with a gay couple who’d met in an LGBT support group. It becomes more and more apparent how, the definitions of manhood, to figuratively illustrate it, doesn’t only consist of a range of certain dark, strong toned colors. It consists of the entire color spectrum.

And perhaps, in all the focus and concentration society places on how there should be a redefinition of what it means to be a woman (i.e. being a woman doesn’t necessarily mean you should be able to cook, do house chores, have babies), we have disregarded any possibility of the need to redefine what it means to be a man.

After all, man or woman, whatever our race, whomever we choose to love, whatever we decide to do with our bodies, and however we choose to celebrate ourselves, we are all a part of a grand color spectrum called life.