Esmaa Mohamoud

From 2017-2018, Mohamoud collaborated with Qendrim Hoti to create and photograph sculptures that are designed to be worn by black, male-presenting models.[15] In One of the Boys, men and women wear custom-made ball gown jerseys, thus pointing to gender fluidity and race through their use of fashion. Mohamoud uses Vince Carter’s Raptors jerseys for the top half of the gown and the bottom half is a beautiful puffy dress. The jersey itself is not of the usual sports mesh, but is made of velvet and contains corset lacings on both sides an allusion both to basketball through the use of shoelaces and to high fashion through the use of corseted tops. Some of the models can be seen wearing jewelry such as earrings, rings, necklaces, colorful hair ties, braids, and tattoos. Amanda Parris points out that some of the models in this series face away from the camera or conversely they stare directly at it, something Mohamoud terms the “power stance."[16]

The fashion and body language is this piece work in tandem to create a harmonious balance between femininity and masculinity.[17] This balance of feminine and masculine objects and poise convey the overarching theme of gender fluidity depicted on and through black, male bodies. Mohamoud's design of the jersey and the ballgown is meant to convey gender fluidity in a way in which it is difficult for viewers to categorize the subject of the photographs in a binary fashion. The Raptors jersey itself is meant to symbolize masculinity, as athleticism is usually thought to be masculine, and the ballgowns are meant to symbolize femininity.[16]

The title of the series, One of the Boys, is derived from the artist's personal experiences.[18] Mohamoud recalls her mother requiring that she wear a dress when she wanted play basketball with the neighborhood boys. Mohamoud stated that she wore a dress and put a Raptors jersey on top to which her mother reprimanded, “you are not one of the boys.”[18] Mohamoud reflects on what this statement meant to her during her childhood, when a tension existed between her wanting to play basketball like Vince Carter and her societal obligation to align herself with feminine ideals.[18] One of the Boys is meant to dissipate this tension Mohamoud felt throughout her childhood and the tension that many others, specifically young, black men may feel.

One of the Boys explore and exposes how black male bodies and notions of masculinity have been shaped and viewed by society.[19] Mohamoud focuses on black men in sports and uses basketball specifically to explore societal problems around the construction of black masculinity. In the book Black Sexual Politics, Patricia Hills Collins explains how and why black masculinity is treated and viewed the way it is in sports, specifically in basketball. Collins shares the story about a professional black basketball player named Latrell Sprewell, playing for the Golden State Warriors at the time, who choked his coach P. J. Carlesimo. Collins says Sprewell was viewed “as the worst of basketball”[20] and his actions gave a bad reputation to all black basketball players. Collins notes that black basketball players are thought of as irrational “bad boys” that are too sensitive and can't control their aggressive nature when provoked.[20] Collins states Sprewell's mistake contributed to a societal belief that black basketball players are a bad example of masculinity and establishes the idea that all black men are violent, greedy, childish, rule breakers, and “too black”.[20] Since black male masculinity was deemed out of control, sports have been used to control and polish black masculinity to be more like white masculinity.[20] Collins argues that it is clear that society believes people must “submit to White male authority in order to learn how to be a man,"[20] and this is what Esmaa Mohamoud is fighting against with and through her art. Mohamoud argues that, "[i]f we don't take up space, a white body will."[16]

Through this series, Mohamoud attempts to combat pervasive associations of black male bodies with hypermasculinity, violence, and ruggedness, by engaging the models in hyper-feminine clothes and poses. The artists recalls that many people in her hometown of London, Canada were fearful of blackness as Black people, particularly Black men, are perceived in violent light.[21] Author and activist, bell hooks, has acknowledged in her book, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, the long-standing belief that black men are the embodiment of violence and aggression, stating “read any article or book on black masculinity and it will convey the message that Black men are violent.”[22] This image of violence can be dangerous for black men as they navigate their way through the world.[22] To counter this, Mohamoud attempts to offer black men the freedom of gender fluidity. By clothing black, male models in velvet gowns, Mohamoud shields them with the notion that black men can too possess the ability to be fragile and soft.[23]

Through her art, Mohamoud brings awareness to a current and problematic view of black masculinity in order to shift it and reclaim it is as her own through a subversion of gender norms, "power stances," and the use of bell hooks' the "oppositional gaze."[24]