The Subtle Gesture

To represent is to make something perceptible through an image. Rami Hara and Ugo Woatzi, with their figurative, colorful, or poetic images, question the expectations tied to masculinities and explore plural identities. By transposing their experiences into their photography practice, they produce representations that, rooted in a context and an era, play a role in the construction of self and others. In the Durag series, Rami Hara uses this symbolic accessory to question and redefine the representation of Black men. The durag is an object of stigmatization for some and a cultural emblem for others. For the photographer, it becomes a symbol of pride for Black youth. Ugo Woatzi’s works bring together socio-cultural realities and fiction. They stage multiple bodies—intimate and political bodies—to create queer narratives that, by blending personal and collective experiences, reinvent possibilities. The subtle gesture of artists who reveal intersectional, fluid, and evolving stories and identities.