Ritual of Disenchantment

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Zhang Jian, China
• Date of Photograph
  2025.05.05

This photo project explores queer identity and masculine anxiety through personal growth. Bullied as "effeminate," childhood trauma manifested as bodily fixation: binding chests, compulsive shaving, and anthropomorphizing Adam’s apples/genitals as symbolic visuals. These acts expose distorted masculinity worship and fractured selfhood. Adulthood reframes binders/razors as discarded "trash," demystifying gender norms. A visual archive documents metamorphosis from repression to acceptance, culminating in discarding symbols to liberate and reintegrate identity.