Geared For Masculinity: Photoseries Conveys The Concept Of Gender-Dominance

Akansha Singh & Hansraj Dochaniya

There are various understandings of masculinity that exist –– gendered realities have shaped much of these concepts, and continue to do so even now. Women and gender minorities continue to live in a world where masculinity takes the pedestal through oppression.

For long, masculinity has held a dominant position in society. Portraying this aspect through eye-catching styling and headgear designing is 21-year-old Akansha Singh from New Delhi. Her project is a representation of hegemonic masculinity and how she envisions it.

“Heterosexuality and homophobia are the bedrock of hegemonic masculinity and any understanding of its nature and meaning is predicated on the feminist insight that, in general, the relationship of men to women is oppressive. Indeed, the term ‘hegemonic masculinity’ was invented and is used primarily to maintain this central focus in the critique of masculinity,” says Akansha.

What took her four months to complete is a series of wondrous pictures that use out-of-the-box styling methods to nail the concept. The headgear designed in this project truly pulls the theme together and succeeds at conveying the thought put behind it. Powered by a solid effort to bring the vision to life, Akansha worked with photographer Hansraj Dochaniya, make-up artist Shivani Joshi and model Divyam Bidhuri to execute the photoseries.

Marrying creativity with impeccable use of headgears, Akansha narrates hegemonic masculinity in a tale that has been around for years, through this beautiful photoseries.