Good News: The Barbican’s Masculinities Exhibition Has Been Extended

Masculinities: Liberation Through Photography, the Barbican’s blockbuster exhibition which opened earlier this year, is set to re-open for an extended run on July 13. The London institution was forced to close its doors in March as the country went into lockdown, the mammoth group exhibition having only been open for four weeks. 

Masculinities features the work, dating from the 1960s to today, of nearly 60 photographers who address the complexities and contradictions of what it means to be masculine. Some of the image-makers include Catherine Opie, Deana Lawson, Peter Hujar, Hal Fischer, Sunil Gupta, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Liz Johnson Artur, Robert Mapplethorpe, Collier Schorr, Paul Mpagi Sepuya and Masahisa Fukase. The exhibition, which is set over two floors in the Barbican’s art gallery, explores various strands of masculinity being depicted in photography: from female perceptions of men, queer identity and the body in photography to the patriarchy, race in photography and sexuality. 

As the Barbican announced the new opening dates for Masculinities, other exhibitions which have also been postponed were announced. A Countervailing Theory, Toyin Ojih Odutola’s solo show of new works in the Barbican’s Curve, will open on August 11. The show is Ojih Odutola’s first UK commission, and was due to open in March. Later this year, in October, a large-scale exhibition on pioneering dancer and choreographer Michael Clark will open.

Masculinities: Liberation Through Photography re-opens at the Barbican from July 13 – August 23, 2020.