A Matter of Men!!!

Videoaction curated by the La Hostia Fine Arts for the Dvd Madrid Performa 07. Madrid (diciembre 2006).

http://lahostiafinearts.blogspot.com/

Duration: 4 min.

A matter for men!!! Is a continuation of my interest for the topic of pain, in the processes of recover from and integration of the pain in the life of people.

In this case, I narrow my focus on this topic into the content of male gender.

The cultural roles that the social machinery transmits in relation to gender do not contemplate the possiblility that men emotionally manifest their feelings. In this way, they ampute the psychological and quasi biological mechanism of mourning steps. Under the pressure of culture, we tend to link with women everything related to empathy, emotionality and crying. Hence, any man daring to use these potentialities proper of human beings will be considered not to be a man, or at least not a true man, or quite simply, a faggot. Men do not cry, they are brave, they have balls....

“A Matter of Men” is the slogan of a brandy label much publicized in the mass media; I make use of this very un-innocent slogan which has worked as a very constraining rule code for men, culturally transmitted.

By using poetic language, I treat two options for experiencing pain. The self-punishment and the non-verbalization of pain: drinking for forgetting. And the challenge that we men can pose to the amputant culture by using the biological capacities which we are born with. Self-introspecting us, expressing our feelings, crying because of what hurts us, and completing the mourning circle in order to assimilate the lost and pursue our search for happiness. Expressing our emotion not only completes us as human beings, but also becomes an engine of self-questioning and social change.