“Homens em Carvão” Project discusses masculinity and diversity through art

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There are many innovative projects that appear on the Internet and “Men in Charcoal” is one of them. Success on Instagram to portray different men and their views on masculinity, the proposal leaves the networks to become a real book.

The artist Wilton Oliveira (or simply Will) launched a question on the networks in 2020 and the answers revealed the sensitivity of men from all over the country: What does it mean to be a man to you?

This provocation generated curiosity among volunteer models from Brasília, Goiás, São Paulo and other states in Brazil, as well as countries such as Spain, the United States, France, Mexico and Turkey. Many of them undressed to be portrayed through Will’s charcoal drawings. They are white, black, cis, trans, fat, thin, athletic, effeminate or masculine subjects. They teach meanings of what it is to be a man and different masculinities. The images of the drawings began to circulate through the social media and the project was gaining larger dimensions.

The “ARTBOOK – Homens em Carvão” (Men in Charcoal) is an art/protest book. An attempt to deconstruct the standard of what it is to be a man today. In addition to the portraits and reflections of each model about what it means to be a man, the book also has little learning about fragile masculinity, about the diversity of men’s bodies and about what it is like to work with charcoal throughout the year.

For the start of the action, an open video call was made through Instagram. The call lasted the entire month of April 2020 and resulted in 85 selected, initially. There was a difficulty in finding models with different biotypes. To maintain diversity in the project, some models were directly invited. Nudity was not mandatory in the project. However, showing the naked body has been more interesting because it dialogues with the idea of deconstructing standards and conservatism.

Why drawings with charcoal?

“Because, like the man, he feels. Charcoal understands my state of mind and helps me create a connection with each model. The result is always different because the energy of the moment is unique. It was months of working and rediscovering myself with this material. Almost daily, I faced the challenge of representing another person. Have you ever stopped to think about the expectations that we generate in others and in ourselves when we portray someone? What if that expectation is not met? Despite this ‘battle’ between external and internal expectations, it has been an incredible experience”.

The illustrator himself has already been drawn naked by other artists in the projects. This exchange of roles between model and illustrator tends to make work more humane. Experimentation and frisson remain present in this exchange of knowledge. Other artists from different lines of work posed for “Men in Charcoal”, such as Helder Amorim from Goiás and Fabio Lopes from São Paulo, as well as other names such as Antonio Goper, Yuri Amaral, Chico Tomáz, Hugo Faz, Josuel Junior, Julio Leão and Ubiratan Oliveira.

9 months working with drawings

“By my accounts, I have already accumulated almost 300 hours of production and I have seen a significant improvement in the drawing process. In addition, daily reflections are made on the privileges and pains that the word “man” carries. At the same time that it reduces sexual harassment by allowing me, for example, to walk around without a T-shirt, it prevents me from fully FEELING. The man is expected to be insensitive and to perform at all times. With this project, I constantly learn and see that problems regarding the acceptance of men’s bodies are more common than we think”.

The campaign to print the physical book that started on December 1st of last year already has more than 80% of the target pre-established in the crowdfunding platform. People who contribute will have rewards, ranging from the book to participation as one of the charcoal models. Crowdfunding is in the EVERYTHING OR NOTHING modality. This means that if the target is not reached within 60 days, the entire amount is returned to participants automatically.

There are just over two weeks left to the end of the campaign, that has already collected more than 80% of the established target of R$ 20,690.00. If you want to follow the project, just go to Instagram @menincharcoal or on the campaign website:

https://www.catarse.me/menincharcoal

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