“What is masculinity?” This question drove stylist Alexander van der Heide and photographer Sander Coers during a study project at Willem de Kooning. Their exploration led to the creation of the book “This Naked Incident,” produced in collaboration with Galerie MaMA.
Where it sometimes seems that we have no more than stereotypes to resort to in our efforts to make this tangible, it turns out there are specific moments, charged by the people around you, and the places where you are, that suddenly allow for room to modify the way you express yourself.
“How much room is there, in society, to be masculine in different ways than the masculine construct dictates?”
The book is designed as an exploration in image and text. Through this journey Alexander van der Heide and Sander Coers come to the conclusion that if masculinity is anything at all, it is fluid.
Through Phases
The images were shot over a period of three months, in which the makers successively asked their peers to bring an object they associate with masculinity to the shoot, take them along to places where the interviewees feel most at ease, and finally resulting into a portrait that captures the subjects experience of fluidity of their masculinity.
Concept
Sander Coers
Alexander van der Heide
Printer
NPN Drukkers
Publisher
Eleonoor Japsam
Jap Sam Books, Prinsenbeek
ISBN
97894992852502
In association with
MaMA and Willem de Kooning Academy research center