Peter Hujar's David Brintzenhofe series at Masculinities: Liberation through Photography, Barbican Art Gallery

Working exclusively in black-and-white photography, Peter Hujar (1934–1987, USA) favoured pared-back settings, allowing his subjects to be seen intimately through complex plays of shadow and movement. The idea of life as a performance is a recurring theme in Hujar’s work, which he explored by turning his lens on drag performers, among them David Brintzenhofe, presented here variously looking directly to camera, carefully applying make-up or in full drag. In documenting Brintzenhofe’s transformation, Hujar reflects on the performative and artificial nature of gender.

What does it mean to be a man today? The Barbican's Masculinities: Liberation through Photography considers how masculinity has been coded, performed, and socially constructed from the 1960s to the present day.