The Man on the 15th Floor

A photographic study of masculinity through gesture, sculpture and performance. Set in an East London flat, the series reimagines strength and softness through irony, intimacy and movement.

The Man on the 15th Floor began with Mingzhao Lin, a dancer and performer whose relationship to masculinity became the first thread of the project. The setting is his flat in East London, a domestic space surrounded by light and glass, gradually transforming into a stage. From here, the work evolved into a performance-based exploration of how masculinity can be shaped, undone and reimagined.

Sculpture sits at its centre. A plaster cast of Mingzhao's hand, fractured and repaired, stands as a fragile monument to classical ideals and the desire to rebuild. Layered with nineteenth-century figure drawings of Greek sculpture, the photographs open a dialogue between ancient archetypes and contemporary identities. What once symbolised power is reframed through tenderness, care and irony.

The inclusion of raw meat introduces another layer of visual metaphor, a reminder of consumption, strength and ritual, yet rendered absurd within this quiet domestic setting. Here, the man as “hunter” becomes performer, his gestures no longer of conquest but of construction and care.

When Juan Menchaca enters, the gestures shift toward encounter. The act of applying plaster becomes a shared ritual of connection, blurring boundaries between touch, repair and intimacy. Masculinity unfolds as process, performative and sculpted through collaboration.

The work is seen through the female gaze, tracing an ongoing fascination with how men are observed, how softness exists within strength, and how the body performs both. A quiet photograph of Ming layered with his handwritten text closes the sequence as reflection, a meditation on what it means to be a man in the modern world.