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# Duff Norris On an Expansive Definition of Manhood
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/duff-norris-on-an-expansive-definition-of-manhood/
- Published: 2023-06-05T20:44:22.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:20:46.000Z
- Description: “I deeply desire an understanding of manhood that includes tenderness and open-heartedness that is not in opposition to butchness,” said the Brooklyn-based artist.
- Author: Elaine Velie
- Tags: Interview, LGBTQ, Pride Month 2023, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:29 (2023, 2024, part 1)

***This article is part of* Hyperallergic**’***s*** [***Pride Month series***](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/pride-month-2023/)***, featuring an interview with a different transgender or nonbinary emerging or mid-career artist every weekday throughout the month of June.***

For the latest edition of our ongoing series, we spoke to Duff Norris, an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn who works primarily in performance and photography. Norris often employs self-portraiture to explore the experience of being a trans man while probing the societal expectations that surround masculinity. Norris talked to *Hyperallergic* about his desire to represent tenderness and butchness as compatible parts of manhood and his hopes for an interconnected future in the LGBTQIA+ community.

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**Hyperallergic:** *What is the current focus of your artistic practice?*

**Duff Norris:** Artistically, I'm interested in connection and exchange with my audience and participants. My current work centers on themes of masculinity and negotiating different norms and histories from various vantage points and backgrounds. I deeply desire an understanding of manhood that includes tenderness and open-heartedness that is not in opposition to butchness. Much of my work explores how I and other men come to that conversation through creating images and performances seeking expressions of intimacy and holding space for these ideas and their synergies and contradictions. 

**H:** *In what ways — if any — does your gender identity play a role in your experience as an artist?*

**DN:** My interest in these themes comes directly out of my experience as a transgender man. Through the journey of coming out, transitioning, and living as a trans fella, there has always been a natural curiosity, criticality, and experimental aspect to my perspective which also guides my artistic practice. Evidenced in my series *Transmen Pietas* (2021–2022), I have repeatedly recreated the pieta with myself as Mary and different trans men whom I transitioned with as the slain Jesus figure in my lap. I am drawn to this image because it aligns trans-masculinity with the divine while also representing the tragedy and inflicted harm that we live with. Additionally, it is significant for me to cradle these beloved men and represent trans-masculine motherhood and care by embodying Mary's position. Each image is taken within a personal space of the model in my lap and alludes to their identity and story beyond their trans status. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2023/06/pieta_1.jpg)

Duff Norris, "Jaxon" (2021) from *Transmen Pieta* (2021–2022), digital photo pigment print, 16 x 20 inches

**H:** *Which artists inspire your work today? What are your other sources of inspiration?*

**DN:** Three artists that I think about frequently, in connection to my work, are Shaun Leonardo's performance work and how his engagements translate into pieces. Tommy Kha's images are a touchstone for the layered opportunities of a single image and of multiple images speaking to each other. I also look at the staging and performativity of Janine Antoni's work and the presence of her and others' bodies as an aspect of the dialogue. 

**H:** *What are your hopes for the LGBTQIA+ community at the current moment?*

**DN:** As events unfold, I hope we continue to lean into our toughness as well as tenderness. I hope we invest in each other and in systems of liberation, resilience, and redundancy. The best minds I know suggest this is done through consensus building, collaboration, and mutual aid between multiple, diverse, and intersecting groups. I hope we aim our focus on building safety nets, care networks, and contingencies for and between our different constituencies.