An onnagata (女形) or oyama (女方) refers, within Japanese kabuki theater, to the actor who portrays the role of a young woman in theatrical performances. The literal translation of the term is “woman figure,” as the role is performed exclusively by a man, who must dress as a woman and embody a real female character.

Researching the influence of cultural heritage from artistic tradition and the new dynamics of gender in contemporary society, I delve into the essence of the human being by capturing the vulnerability of the naked male body and exploring the dichotomy between authenticity and artificiality through unposed psychological portraiture. Through a heterosexual female gaze, the intimacy between the photographed man and the (clothed) female photographer becomes an essential element of the visual narrative.

The result of Onnagata is an ongoing photographic project composed of cosmogonies, diptychs, and triptychs that aim to question the idea of masculinity and invert the roles and power dynamics perpetuated for centuries by artists, where the female model was the object of desire, sublimated to their will of representation.