manned-scapes

Man hunts, man provides, man dominates landscape - but the fish pic on your dating app profile coos a complicated wink at the historical construct of manhood performed for courtship.

Man hunts, man provides, man dominates landscape - but the fish pic on your dating app profile coos a complicated wink at the historical construct of manhood performed for courtship. ‘manned-scapes’ is a body of work that postures humor, criticality, and curiosity in an age of political instability, relentless self-promotion, and the implications of the digital realm entangling itself in the physical world. Millions of active users scroll the proverbial sea of dating applications in the hope that their digital actions lead to "irl" connections. I too sought love in a swipe-to-the-right but instead felt bombarded with picture after picture of men thrusting virility via slain deer, hooked fish, and faceless muscle pumps. As a young girl I understood the role of men through princess movies and when to be submissive. As an undergraduate I learned about men through art history; studying paintings and photographs of the landscape, nude muses, and men on their expeditions to elucidate the unknowns. Set to the contemporary backdrop of what I interpret as daddy-patriarchy, the decade-long project, ‘manned-scapes’, examines the performance of modern day masculinity from a feminine vantage point. Through recurring themes and methodologies of absence and presence, the contemporary hunter/provider trope beckons a humbling giggle followed by a slow burn sadness that the mirror of transparency quietly reveals. 

I have been amassing screenshot photographs from Tinder since 2016. Unsure at first of what I planned to do with them, the action of accumulation felt like a quiet victory; that a subtle press of my fingers could regain a feeling of control. Almost ten years later, and after many iterations, the body of work, ‘manned-scapes’, is as relevant and poignant as ever. As we search for stability during a time that has been dominated by men explaining things, theoretically fixing things, and promising return to an artificial period of bliss, the possession of power and who holds it does feel productively fragile. The collection of images foreground the loneliness of a landscape haunted by the ghost of a haphazardly removed male figure while its title and description invite viewers into their sourced secret. Men on Tinder presenting their trophies on an app designed for love, sex, and attention. Simultaneously archaic and exceedingly current, the work contemplates the showmanship of masculinity, in addition to asking a bit more from the voyeur; while this is their digital identity, what is yours?

This project is currently in contract with Fall Line Press to be published in 2026. As we are still in very early stages of the process, the opportunity to co-publish with PhMuseum would ignite this project in ways that feel currently out of reach. With deep roots in the history of photography, and branches to the contemporary culture of the image, this book has the potential to be intimately ubiquitous, a highlighted trace of the generation, and hold its own in the photobook canon. I would be deeply honored and eager to work with PhMuseum and collaborating partners on everything this Photobook Award would set into motion.