WHAT IT IS:The Manhood Project is a documentary art and social storytelling project intent on explaining, exploring and expressing man's relationship with--and attitude toward--his manhood (penis), and what role it plays in a man's perception of actual manhood (being a man).
It seeks to demystify and normalize the sight of our pure natural physical male form, breaking down the taboos and fetishization that come from our modern culture's lack of exposure to non-sexualized nude imagery, and the rarity of non-sexual nude adult interaction and experience. It is judgement free and open to ALL men 18 years of age and over.
WHAT IT IS NOT:This is NOT a sexual, sensual or erotic project, and should not be seen as such. The project does not personally identify the participants, so discretion and personal privacy is assured.
Participation in the project consists of two parts:
Part 1:The first half of this project asks that you, the subject, provide simple written statements about your feelings, experiences and attitudes toward your physical and actual manhood by answering the questions provided in the form below.
Part 2:The second half of the project asks that you privately stand for a photographic fine art portrait of your manhood, shown fully nude, in your natural unaroused (flaccid) state. Image will be of your genital area only, your identity will be kept strictly confidential, and no other identifying body parts will be shown. The portrait will be made by a male photographer at either a private space in South Harlem, or at a NYC location of your choosing (e.g. your home/office/hotel, etc), please specify below. This portion should be viewed in same light as a nude art model standing for a drawing or sculpture. No sexually charged situations will be considered or tolerated. Please be sure of your willingness to fully agree, commit to and comply with this before choosing to participate. The shoot itself should require less than 10-15min of your time.
THE RESULTING ARTWORK The resulting artwork simply displays the male human form to be considered in it's natural state, isolated from identifiable personal identity, yet starkly humanized by pairing it with a quotation of thought provoking words from its inhabitor.
While very bold, uncomfortable, unconventional, and downright strange at first thought, the project seeks to encourage a second thought, a way of bravely seeing things differently: normalizing the sight of non-sexualized nudity, unveiling internal feelings about male gender expectation, objectification and confidence, and speaking freely about our male human experience.
The hope is to share as many men's stories as possible, showing the breadth of our differing unique perspectives, fused with the brotherhood of our binding sameness.
A SAMPLE OF THE CONCEPTA sample image/quote layout from the project is available for view here to provide context. Note that the link contains nonsexual imagery of nude male genitalia, it is NSFW, and only for viewing by those 18 yrs and older:https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l98feemvazuni5t/AACI0az_5SJ158D5aGBNXp7Sa?dl=0
GETTING STARTEDNow that you've made it this far, if all sounds good, please complete the form below and submit to begin the process. I look forward to creating with you and sharing your story of manhood. If you have further questions prior to your submission, you may email manhoodartproject@gmail.com