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Every Body celebrates inclusivity and the representation of human beings in every shape and form.
It can be easy to forget that the body positivity movement isn’t just for women; men suffer body-image issues too. That’s why one photographer is working to challenge the dominant image of men that gets presented in media. Tarik Carroll is taking on the idea of what masculine should look like with his EveryMan Project, and redefining male beauty in the process.
With a goal to “empower and inspire” men of all shapes, sizes, and colors, Carroll has been working with men and male-identified people to show the beauty in everyone. On the EveryMan website, Carroll explains, “Upon learning the powers of retouching, I started to realize that perfection and beauty are purely subjective concepts. Once I started to build friendships and working relationships with various models, I quickly learned that body image issues didn’t discriminate.”
He expresses how dangerous the idea of perfection is on young men and boys, explaining that as a non-white and big kid, he felt ashamed of how he looked. As he grew up and learned that society has an “obsession with perfection,” he realized that he didn’t want to continue to buy into this ideal.
“I want to challenge society’s obsession with hyper-masculinity and perfection by capturing men/male identifying from all backgrounds, orientations, gender identifications, personal classifications, races and colors,” Carroll says, adding that the visual aspect of his work will hopefully start the larger conversation around what it means to be a “man.”
How do you support male body positivity? Tell us @BritandCo!
(h/t Logo; photos via Instagram)
