Minneapolis-based photographer Joseph D R Oleary has created a fascinating photo project that explores the relationship between facial hair and masculinity today.
Consisting of portraits of bearded men that are designed to reveal the unique personalities of their subjects, the images in the ‘Of Beards and Men’ series are “a visual record of masculinity in contemporary society”.
Each man is photographed in his own clothes—or in one particular case, without any clothes—and with some “props” that allow the viewer to gain insight about him as an individual.
In these portraits of the diverse men, their facial hair—be it a bushy beard or a trim mustache—appears to be an extension of not only their outfits, but their identities as well.
[via Lenscratch]