B. PARIS, FRANCE, 1958; LIVES IN ARLES, FRANCE
French photographer Scarlett Coten has earned international recognition for her long-term investigation of oppressive gender norms and constructions of masculinity through intimate color portraiture. Her celebrated project “Mectoub” (2012–16) explored the complexities of contemporary masculinity, intimacy, and nonconformity in the Arab world. In 2017, galvanized by Pres. Donald Trump’s ascension in American politics, and the centrality of his polarizing rhetoric of toxic masculinity, Coten traveled to the United States to embark upon a three-year American road trip to explore the ruptures in the public presentations of masculine identity.
The resulting body of work “Plan Américain” (2017–19)—shown here—alludes to American Western cowboy films and a cinematic approach to framing. The series explores the tension between, on the one hand, the gender experimentation and fluidity often embraced by American youth culture and, on the other hand, the resurgence of a more aggressive form of male domination. Coten’s intimate encounters with strangers resulted in beguiling color portraits – staged in collaboration with her subjects – that question the power dynamics between photographer and subject. In a reversal of the male gaze, Cotton chooses men and invites them to pose for her, offering a female presentation of men which she describes as a “transgressive photographic act” designed to “reimagine gender identity for today’s world.”
This installation is part of the exhibition Parallel Lives: Photography, Identity, and Belonging, curated by Maya Benton. Parallel Lives draws attention to complex notions of community and belonging, and in particular how our social and familial relationships have been reimagined as a result of the conditions of isolation and uncertainty imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Photo: Scarlett Coten, Kennie, Atlanta, Georgia, 2018