Control

This series presents a contemporary insight into rural masculinities.

Rural masculinities are hardly a typical topic of rural social science, or photography for that matter. Indeed, it is a somewhat uncomfortable subject. Probably almost all those few researchers who have conducted work on rural masculinity can report awkward moments of trying to explain to why, and even what it is. There is something unexpected, faintly disturbing, occasionally humorous, and not a little suspicious in investigating that which we have always seen and yet have overlooked..

Images of the countryside surround us; presenting bucolic scenes with shiny tractors, fields competitively ploughed in straight lines and the land bending to the will of man. Faced with images of flawless strength, tenacity, resilience, mastery over nature, it’s representation can place unnecessary pressure on the men who work the land as they try to meet the ‘strong, tough guy’ expectations of the public. This series reveals the hidden, the broken, the isolation, the fragility and offer a critique of humanities’ desire to see a perfect rural landscape.

This work appeared as part of a collaborative exhibition at Belfast International Photo Festival, 2021.