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Kòktèl (cocktail in Haitian Creole) is about exploring the diversity of masculinity.
- Zintle Ramano
- Aug 24, 2017
- 2 min read
When you think of a cocktail it brings the idea of color, flavor and the experience of different elements blended together for a tasteful experience.
I wanted to visually express that with colors and movement. The thread bending, crossing and extending around and over his body sometimes express the turmoil in which different men find themselves, other times it represents the way men spin the web of their individuality.
Who am I to speak on behalf of a gender that I do not identify as?
Therefore, I let those who do speak.
"don’t deny them of freedom because they are different than you."
Hypermasculinity prevents us men from being our true selves: 'To be a real man, you can't be vulnerable, both emotionally and physically. You have to be this flying, combusting ball of raw Angus beef, 24/7'. As men, we tell each other the lie that there's only one way to function as human beings, for the sake of bullshit societal norms that only persist because we let them, hurting everyone else on the gender spectrum in the process. What a shitty, boring life that must be. I feel like there's a lot of violence attached to hypermasculinity. I am a black queer cis-man, and I had an uncle tell me as kid, that if anyone one was gay, he'd beat you. When you hear that, you develop shame for yourself, you internalize homophobia; you are silenced in your house. It's ironic that it happens in the home that reminds you how much you're loved. Man has evolved and has gone through many steps to become untouchable : a leader, the most important and ask others to submit to him as supplements. We have come to a situation where the ideal man, at this moment of intellectual and social evolution, must look at others as his equals. The man who wants to reach a level of plenitude must ask for social justice. The man who sees himself as untouchable, can only be compared to a gorilla, considering brutality as the only way to gain authority ell first of all masculinity is promoted differently amongst different race groups. White people are "allowed" to be sensible or vulnerable and are allowed to be strong and tough : nerds/nopeless romantics or machos/soldiers. But with black men, we are expected to be strong, not express too much emotions, be aggressive, mean, big and bad. The thug/criminal/bully. Reasons to that come from the Jim Crow era with slavery and to how we are represented in day to day media. We have "masculinity molds" hat I do know is that society categorizes men as the dominant male and I am against thinking that men are dominant. There is no dominant gender for me, just equal beings to whom different tasks are attributed. Let's consider for example the prototype of the family : men are the head of the family. I consider that normal, but that doesn't mean that our word is holy. As a Black Man of Transition, (I say this instead of Black Transman because I identify as a man: being transgender is simply a part of that identity just like in addition to me being 5'8", tatted, having long hair, etc. Yes I identity as both a Black man and as a Black Transman for transgender advocacy purposes but that's not all that I am so I prefer to be known as a simply a man of transition. I mean after all, all humans are in transition.) Embodiment of true masculine energy is not and will never be how it's been portrayed by any men on this planet. Being a male is vast and not limited to just one way of being. We all exist here to add something to it, channel something different or mirroring a type that has been already anchored in our society. What type of man you get to be is a choice or a combination of choices and ideals, a process of finding the perfect version of self you become different variations of "male" with time The idea of machoism is what really crushed men today. Our society’s view of masculinity has always been broken. We were raised to denigrate characteristics associated with the feminine. The only emotion I grew up seeing most men openly express was anger. We were taught to be driven by the domination of others where we can control them based on gender, sexual preference, religion, culture or race. I became liberated the moment I declared that I am strong, and sensitive, and everything in between My thoughts on that community of men who don't follow the norms of what a man should be, are that i don't believe in gay marriage or couples. To me that doesn't exist and it shouldn't be legal. Making it legal messes up our future kids brains. I mean, nowadays look at the shows, movies, cartoons etc. now on tv if there's not a gay flick on it it's not normal. It's like your telling the child it's ok to be gay, it's normal, when clearly it's not.
"Who am I to speak on behalf of a gender that I do not identify as? Therefore, I let those who do speak.
Being a Man Being a son Being a father Being a figure
Being a provider Being a security
Being masculine Being strong Being fearless Being calm Being serious Being emotionless
Pressured Insensitive Careless Proud Frustrated Angry
Not being yourself,
Not being anymore but only being what they told you to be, When all you want is to be yourself
Be spontaneous Be funny Be superficial Be deep Be sexy Be open Be caring
Be feminine Be sensitive Be emotional Be artistic Be different Be free
Be love(d)
Be you
Be a Man.
Henri-Abraham, 27 - Be A Man Poem
My name is Zarita Zevallos, I'm a Haitian photographer based in New york. I was raised in Haiti for 16 years before moving to Puerto Rico, then New York to study Architecture. I learned photography from my father. The purpose of my work usually reflects my growth or where I am intellectually and emotionally. I take pictures of people with the idea of expressing what is going on in a specific community or society in general. art extracts from our humanity to make us open our arms to it; it's the essence and the remedy. My vision is the result of my experience.
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