Plan américain

"Plan Américain" is the second part of a larger study on the various shades of masculinity. A prolongation of the work initiated in my previous series, "Mectoub" (2012/2016), this project adds to an exploration of contemporary masculinity and is devoted to a new territory: the United States.

What does it mean to be a man today? As the newest wave of feminism has galvanized women to rethink their place in the society of 2018, the flip side feels just as urgent to address.

A prolongation of the conversation I started in the Arab world in 2012 - by inviting men to pose for me - about the complexities of manhood, its various shades and expressions, this project adds to my exploration of contemporary masculinity and is devoted to a new territory: the United States.

The question of individual liberties - the freedom to be who you actually are - was at the heart of my series in the Arab world, a subject, which is also problematic within the context of the new American presidency. This new project, through a series of intimate portraits, aims to give, this time, a unique overview of today’s America – the America of my encounters with strangers, all American men, who have crossed my path.

In the New York Times, a series of articles centered around "this urgent question in the era of Parkland, President Trump, and #MeToo" recently sparked quite a conversation. Michael Ian Black in “The Boys Are Not All Right” states the fact that even if rigid gender roles are restrictive for everyone, redefining them has been mostly a one-sided effort: "The past 50 years have redefined what it means to be female in America. Boys, though, have been left behind. No commensurate movement has emerged to help them navigate toward a full expression of their gender. America’s boys are broken. And it’s killing us. Too many boys are trapped in the same suffocating, outdated model of masculinity, where there is no way to be vulnerable without being emasculated. Men feel isolated, confused and conflicted about their natures. There has to be a way to expand what it means to be a man without losing our masculinity. I think we would benefit from the same conversations girls and women have been having for these past decades. I would like men to use feminism as an inspiration, in the same way that feminists used the civil rights movement as theirs. We have to start the conversation. Boys are broken, and I want to help."

By challenging visual stereotypes of Masculinity, this project is joining the now global conversation on this matter, just like the question about who is looking at whom, raises questions about the necessity of alternative viewpoints.

Reversing the typical photographic topos, this body of work offers a female viewpoint on men, a photographic act which transgresses typical societal roles. I choose men on instinct and I always photograph those who agree to pose in a confidential location carefully selected to match each individual encounter.

By engaging with the complexities of my own identity and revealing a process of vulnerability – both the subject’s and my own – these intimate portraits invite us to redefine norms surrounding gender and identity and to rethink notions of otherness.

By focusing on beauty, sensitivity and the vulnerabilities of a gender constricted within the stereotypical expectations of masculinity, my work, by exploring the complexities of manhood in an empathetic way, strives to remove any stereotype or stigma of sensitivity, recontextualizing gendered identity for today’s world.

The aesthesis of the American road trip is nevertheless present. The fragments of landscape or of decors interweaved between the portraits, testify of the experience of the road trip, they can be read as a portion of the American landscape, inviting us to move back and forth between iconic images and the real discovery, the fantasy and the world that collides with it, to finally offer a representation of today's America.

Raising questions on critical topics, such as the notion of gender or identity, and that of the power of the female gaze in the art, is the ambition of this long-term project.

This series, initiated in the spring of 2017, today requires to be pursued in other territories, to enrich the series of new encounters by considering the reality of this nation in its diversity — racial, ethnic, its immigration and the social and cultural differences present in each of its numerous states.

*The "Plan Américain", as French directors call it, refers to a specific way of framing movies, developed for westerns. It allows viewers to see a character from head to mid-thighs and comes from the necessity to include the character’s gun usually located below the belt, in the shot. Particularly praised by French directors, it brings us closer to the subject, whilst showing his or her background. A confrontational perspective, it allows for a greater proximity between the viewer and the character. The word "plan," included in the French title, also translates into rendez-vous – the ones I have with the men I choose to photograph.

© Scarlett Coten - Bryan, Palm Springs CA 2017
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Bryan, Palm Springs CA 2017

© Scarlett Coten - Joseph, Fresno CA 2017
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Joseph, Fresno CA 2017

© Scarlett Coten - Seattle WA 2017
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Seattle WA 2017

© Scarlett Coten - Stephen, New Orleans LA 2018
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Stephen, New Orleans LA 2018

© Scarlett Coten - Charles, Clarksdale MS 2018
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Charles, Clarksdale MS 2018

© Scarlett Coten - Jeremy, New Orleans LA 2018
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Jeremy, New Orleans LA 2018

© Scarlett Coten - Los Angeles CA 2017
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Los Angeles CA 2017

© Scarlett Coten - Alexandre, Seattle WA 2017
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Alexandre, Seattle WA 2017

© Scarlett Coten - Gary, Joshua Tree CA 2017
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Gary, Joshua Tree CA 2017

© Scarlett Coten - Greenwood MS 2018
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Greenwood MS 2018

© Scarlett Coten - Salvatore, New Orleans LA 2018
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Salvatore, New Orleans LA 2018

© Scarlett Coten - Kennie, Atlanta GA 2018
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Kennie, Atlanta GA 2018

© Scarlett Coten - New Orleans LA 2018
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New Orleans LA 2018

© Scarlett Coten - Tanner, Nashville TN 2018
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Tanner, Nashville TN 2018

© Scarlett Coten - Brandon, South Central Los Angeles CA 2017
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Brandon, South Central Los Angeles CA 2017

© Scarlett Coten - Koran, Oakland CA 2017
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Koran, Oakland CA 2017

© Scarlett Coten - Palm Springs CA 2017
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Palm Springs CA 2017

© Scarlett Coten - Robert, Natchez LS 2018
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Robert, Natchez LS 2018

© Scarlett Coten - Alex, Athens GA 2018
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Alex, Athens GA 2018

© Scarlett Coten - Andrew, Los Angeles CA 2017
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Andrew, Los Angeles CA 2017

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