This Artist's Perspective on Masculinity, Intimacy, and Beauty Is Breathtaking

The LGBT community has a tendency to prioritize whiteness. White men cover the landscape of queer media, and when men of color are thrown a bone, they are overwhelmingly masculine and muscular. With the lack of representation, men who don't fit any of these European beauty standards are left behind, and often have quite a different road to figure out how not only love, but celebrate, all parts of themselves.  

With our Body Pride week, we at PRIDE wanted to highlight people of different body types and races being intimate, kind, feminine, soft, masculine, loving, and ultimately, all breathtakingly beautiful.

Instagram: 
@rakeemc
@chiquitogordis
@johncagz

Rakeem is a queer artist based in Los Angeles, California. His work is an intimate celebration of beauty in shapes, sizes, and shades of people who aren't often seen in the media. Rakeem often features himself in his work.

He created this photo series for PRIDE, and he and his fellow models, Ivan Lopez and John Cagandahan, gave us the following statement:

"I remember browsing Twitter not too long ago and seeing a white gay man named Austin Armacost post a picture saying, 'This is my body. No 6 pack, no bulging biceps & a little chubby, BUT I LOVE my body. Don’t like it, unfollow.' Before you see the picture, you would think that this was a statement of body acceptance and self-love. However, upon viewing the image that went along with the statement, the audience can clearly see define pectorals, a semblance of a 6-pack, toned arms, and a stereotypically 'attractive face.'

The issue with these kinds of posts isn’t the message behind them. Celebrating your body in all shapes, sizes, and forms is something to be applauded. But just as words mean things, context matters. As queer people of color, we are often chalked up to and defined by our body types. Asian men being seen as submissive, black men are seen as hard, rough, and dominant, and Latino men are often seen as 'spicy' or a 'Latin lover.'" 

(continued ->)

Instagram: 
@rakeemc
@chiquitogordis
@johncagz

(<- continued)

"Body positivity is often presented in the form of one person celebrating themselves. With this series of images, I wanted to create a space in which my friends came together to celebrate each other in a group setting. In a way, our bodies in a way do define us; they are the sum total of our physical experiences up until this current moment in time. To that end, we wanted to break free of any and all definitions of us that are not generated by us.

"We wanted to find moments of comfort our differences, big or small, and these moments are leaps in that road to being fearless and courageous. Accepting our differences, loving them, exhibiting them, have allowed us to create a body images of ourselves that is constantly evolving and requiring less of us wanting to look a certain way and instead finding more ways to be tender, patient, soft, and loving with ourselves. It will be a life-long journey but everyday we’re grateful and hopeful for this body, for this temple, that regardless of it’s physical appearance, has allowed me to be who I am today."

Instagram: 
@rakeemc
@chiquitogordis
@johncagz