Flag Football, 2023

Acrylic Ink on Cotton

Flag Football examines the often complex relationship between masculinity and homosexuality by printing archival images of football players onto handkerchiefs; images that revel in the homoeroticism of the sport both on the field and off. Through printing these images of the American ideal of masculinity on specifically red and navy blue handkerchiefs, the two colors of handkerchiefs most associated with hanky code, the work takes on multiple meanings: from masculinity’s role as both an object of desire and a thing to fear to the stripping and subsequent reconstruction of masculinity among homosexual men. The work also confronts the inherent homoeroticism found within hypermasculine environments.