For our research for the photo exhibition 'Mad about the boy' we are looking for female photographers that photographed their husband/boyfriend (lover) nude. 'Mad about the boy' is about love, lust, intimacy and the relationship between woman (as photographer) and man. It is also about aging, vulnerability and caring for each other or simply about being in love. 'Mad about the boy' is providing us a realistic image of women on their lover, who in some cases is now an ex or deceased.
Finding these images, however, turns out not to be so easy. Museum collections and image archives overflow with nude photos taken by male photographers of their wives/girlfriends. But why are so few images visible of female photographers who have immortalized their beloved naked? Is the male body not attractive? Do men prefer not to be photographed naked? Or are these photos hidden in boxes and hard drives because women think it will hurt their careers if they show these images?
The research we began in 2022 is still continuing. By now, spanning the period from 1915 to the present, we have found over 70 photographers from Asia, Europe and the United States. They form a wonderful, promising and growing base of “Mad about the boy”. It ranges from Imogen Cunningham who photographed her husband as a faun in 1915, to the very loving documentary work of Bertien van Manen. From very established names such as Sally Mann and Nan Goldin, to younger photographers such as Lina Scheynius courtships and Nagashima Yurie whose book 'Not Six' about her boyfriend was published.
Even though we have already found quite a few photos, there are still some “gaps”. We have only a few photos from the beginning of photography until approximately 2000, almost no photographers of color and a few outside Western Europe and the US.
If know any – please let us know.
e: madabouttheboyexpo@gmail.com
Marloes Heineke is a photographer, portfolio reviewer and photo editor at NRC and Parool.
https://www.instagram.com/marloeskafoto/
Dirk Kome is a photographer, researcher and exhibition maker.
www.dirkkome.nl
Attached photos are from the pre-publication of our research in the Dutch National Newspaper NRC. All credits are with the photographers.
