All of M — Kenneth Tam

In the installation All of M, the high school prom becomes the vehicle to examine the role of social ritual in forming male identity and the physical trappings that enable sites of male homosocial belonging. The prom is understood as a coming-of-age event where adolescents dress up and perform as adults for one night, ritualistically marking the movement from one stage of life to another. A diverse group of high school seniors and adult men are brought together to enact a different version of the prom. Their participation in this re-performance speaks to the anxieties tied to normative gender expression, while also pointing towards possibilities for re-imagining both this ritual and themselves. The inner-tubes filled with sand function as bodily surrogates in the video, and larger versions reappear as sculptures in the installation. Their origins from the world of DIY gym equipment videos circulated on Youtube contrast with their languid and eroticized presentation. Taken together, All of M presents an opportunity to see the performance of male subjectivity as contingent and open to change.

Participants
Darnell Dudley
Nikiander Pelari
Chris Rehmann
Paul Revels
Daniel Tavares
Anwar Toktaraov
Dennis Williams
Marcus Vazzano

Director of Photography
Pascual Sisto

Lighting
Christian Carroll

DJ
Curtis Greaves aka Mix Mello

Special thanks to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Bora Kim and Wojciech Gilewic