‘Play/Fight’ by Cy Klock & Nico Carmandaye: Normalizing Masc Intimacy

Play/Fight is a photography zine by queer creatives: German photographer Cy Klock and Polish stylist/filmmaker Nico Carmandaye. The zine is a product of their reflections on their own and society’s ambivalent attitudes towards intimacy between masculine-presenting people, especially if they are straight and masculine-presenting. “I am a little obsessed with the homoeroticism of straight masculine culture and its self-delusion,” explains Klock about the main ideas behind the project. 

That statement untangles the perspectives that both Klock and Carmandaye look to explore in their work. It questions why society would often call emotive and emotionally available masculine folks “gay” as an attempt to belittle them. In a patriarchal society, this is because showing any emotional reaction is seen as feminine, and therefore, undesirable. But why have emotions, an essential human function that everyone has regardless of their gender expressions and sexuality, been excluded from the idea of masculinity? Hence, the series of photographs in the zine, which show mascs being vulnerable, embracing each other and their emotions. This is why Play/Fight by Cy Klock and Nico Carmandaye is relevant to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality.

The photographs in Play/Fight are shot in a dream-like tone, reminiscent of childhood summer afternoons spent doing everything and nothing with friends. This allows the photographs to exude a sense of comfort in both their viewers and their depicted subjects. Here and there, men and masculine-presenting people are seen playing, embracing and comforting each other with no burden at all. Still, one cannot shake off the feeling that they are looking at a dream, a fantasy that can only be a distant reality. 

Men’s mental health researcher Frederic Rabinowitz, who is also chair of the psychology department at the University of Redlands, California, has stated that generations of men being raised to believe that showing their emotions are not desirable traits has led to unprocessed trauma. This means that men significantly lack the language and tools to process their emotions. As a result, this tends to alienate men and masculine-presenting people from the relationships that they have in their lives, making them increasingly more and more vulnerable as they age without a psychological support system. As its most extreme consequence, this phenomenon manifests itself in how men account for 75-80 percent of suicides around the world.

Play/Fight by Cy Klock and Nico Carmandaye is deeply important. By showing masculine-presenting people in vulnerable positions, pouring their hearts out, and showing that they care, Play/Fight is helping to normalize emotionally intelligent men. Through their evocative, dream-like imagery, the artists advocate for a broader understanding of masculinity, including emotional intelligence and sensitivity. Play/Fight redefines what it means to be masculine and encourages a more inclusive and supportive environment for all individuals, irrespective of their gender expression.

Find out more about Play/Fight and other pieces by Cy Klock and Nico Carmandaye on Cy Klock’s Instagram @cy.klock and Nico Carmandaye’s Instagram @nicocarmandaye.