Hold Me Tight explores moments of vulnerability and intimacy between my husband and two teenage sons, often while on family vacations in nature. The sculptural quality of their forms reminds me of early ideas of classical beauty, and their physical interactions reveal heightened tensions of closeness that are familiar scenes throughout the history of Western Art. Inspired by art history, psychology, and Greek myth, I explore the question of whether there exists an inherently masculine experience, and reflect on the biases of our own cultural moment of narrowly defined readings of manhood.
Allison Plass is a Fine Art photographer living in NYC. She received her MA in Art History at UC Santa Barbara with a focus on gender and representation in European Art, and completed the Advanced Track Program at the International Center of Photography. Her work draws inspiration from cultural representations of the past that continue to shape the collective imagination and the stories we carry about our own lives.
