Rose Turner Milk and honey: boys don’t cry

By placing the male form, in the metaphoric state of adolescence, in an environment with female connotations – the bathroom – I hoped to challenge cultural images of masculinity and femininity. Post-modernism allows for images of ‘classic’ gender roles to be readily available. Milk and honey: boys don’t cry is an effort to challenge an artistic unbalance regarding male representation in the history of art. Working on the notion of being quietly subversive, Milk and honey: boys don’t cry is a mirror opposite to works that empower the male voyeur, challenging audience expectations and responses according to personal history. The aural dimension of the work saturates the audience in the ‘environment’, creating a strong sense of intimacy.