February 2023

The Musclemen of Venice, ‘Act Your Waistsize’  -

With this piece I wanted to subvert the traditional meaning and representation of the strength card. Touching more on the side of vanity and conceitedness which is presently often prioritised over the reasons people once valued the importance of physical strength and stamina. I liked the idea of using men who are often stereotyped to represent strength and power or shown as the protecter, to portray something which is so commonly referenced with images or examples of women. Women, who throughout history have been expected to overcome and endure some of the most challenging of obstacles without the luxury of being able to express any struggle or suffering.  When spending time in Hollywood you see so many men who spend a great amount of their time in the gym to achieve a physique that you would assume could enable them to survive the most gruelling of conditions but thrown into some of the challenging conditions or circumstances that those who are less fortunate and don’t have the luxury of so much free time to spend on physical attributes have to endure, would all those hours of working out prove worthy or merely just a facade in order to present an aesthetic which serves only useful within the material world.