It’s always good to know what you like.
Baltimore-based photographer Ben McNutt fully immerses himself in the world of wrestling, spending his days poring over historic images, and prolifically photographing his own subtly erotic wrestling scenarios.
Okay, maybe not so subtle.
Related: Entire Columbia University Wrestling Team Suspended Over Homophobic Texts
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Explaining why he gravitates towards the subject, McNutt says “the sport holds culturally and socially significant subtexts — such as power, athleticism, and desire.”
“There is a fine line between socially acceptable and unacceptable behavior between two men,” he tells Queerty.
It’s more complex than simple physical and emotional gestures we witness. It’s confusing when we see wrestlers in the referee position, a starting position in which one wrestler is on top grabbing the bottom wrestler’s waist, the bottom wrestler on all fours.
While a student at Maryland Institute College of Art, McNutt began hoarding a massive amount of wrestling memorabilia: stamps, newspaper clippings, singlets, headgear, wrestling shoes, drawings, stickers, buttons, and photos.
Related: PHOTOS: What We Wouldn’t Give To Be Wrestler Jordan Burroughs’ Singlet For A Day
“I dedicated my free time to attending wrestling events and reading books about the sport,” he says. “I began a training regimen to better understand the physical components of wrestling and alter my own physique.”
“My work stands as a part of a larger body that chronicles the human fascination with the athletic form,” he says.
However, my use of photography extends this conversation by intentionally framing our perspective.
In doing so, our impressions, responses, and desires become inseparable from the subjects in the photographs.
This July, McNutt has been invited to photograph the Kirkpinar oil wrestling festival in Turkey.
Anything purchased from his online shop — which features a massive assortment of his wrestling photos — will help finance the trip.
“I’m beyond nervous to get out of my artistic and personal comfort zone,” he says, “but couldn’t be more thrilled to photograph this 700-year-old event.”
Visit Ben McNutt’s website here.
His Instagram account — which is utterly packed with wrestling photos — can be found here.
Ksb1978
Nothing but snow.
davidjohng
Some people confuse the desire for diversity with their own projected racism.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
Try basketball or football pictures. You don’t see much snow in those million dollar jobs.
Zambos271
That’s deep. Every time I look up, ESPN is profiling some white quarterback. There are more pictures of white football players than black ones.
ted72
I agree and I see the responses to your comment. My reaction is that we have much to overcome in forms of racism.
mhoffman953
I see lots of diversity in the pictures. I see smooth guys, hairy guys, middle eastern looking guys, scruffy guys, red heads, brunettes, blondes.
SiamSam
@mhoffman953 It’s funny whites get so much hate for not embracing “diversity” when whites are the most diverse in terms of skin tones, eye color, hair color, etc. And on a global scale, whites are a minority themselves.
Apolodorus
@siamsam you really should get our more 🙂
mhoffman953
@Apolodorus
In fairness, nothing of what SiamSam said was untrue. White people are diverse in physical traits, they have hair colors including black, brown, blonde, red, etc. and eye colors such as blue, green, grey, brown, etc. Black people just have black hair and brown eyes (excluding those who are mixed race or color their hair / wear wigs / wear contacts).
He is also right that white people are the minority in the world.
Kenover
And this comes as news? Wrestling has been the gayest sport besides figure skating since the Ancient Greek Ilympics.
Paco
Those photos make me feel straight. Which is quite an achievement.
They do nothing for me.
Kieran
You sound like you think the World revolves around you.
HighStrungLoner
I’m with you. The photos are themselves uninteresting AND the guys do nothing for me.
Xzamilloh
A Google search would make a better wrestling fan out of you… not this milquetoast crap
JoeyRamone
the bait click pic, of the Turks, is the only one that does it for me. The others look like they were compiled by Kevin Spacey, not that there’s anything wrong with that. . . 😉
Paulie P
how damn dull. i agree with Joey R…. bait click…. first time picking up a camera i would imagine.
miserylovedme24
The guys are hot but the pictures are somehow less sexual than ones from an actual wrestling match. At least give us more skin if they’re supposed to be erotic.
sfhairy
These pictures are pretty, but once again Queerty is objectifying the white man and leaving all other races out of the equation. It’s pretty much the same as no fats, no fems, no black, no asians.
mhoffman953
@sfhairy
Not every photoshoot MUST have every race and every type of man represented.
If that’s the case then every photoshoot should include a black, a fem, a butch, a disabled, a Muslim, a Latino, an Asian, a white, a Native American, an Indian, a Filipino, a Puerto Rican, a transgender, a man, a woman, a young person, an old person, a “non-binary person” (whatever that is), a French person, a German, a mixed race person, a light skinned black person, a dark skinned black person, a blonde, a brunette, a redhead, a fat, a muscular guy, a twink, a bear, an otter, a drag queen, a straight person, a gay person, a lesbian, a bisexual…
Why not just enjoy the photos and judge them on quality?
BTW The quality is crap but I’m not clutching my pearls because it doesn’t include 1 of every thing I listed above
Apolodorus
@sfhairy Towleroad has had an interesting initiative regarding this. The have taken the editorial decision to highlight poc Instagram models on their feature pages. They are still cis, but it’s an awesome start.
Aires the Ram
In high school and college wrestling, there are just not that many black guys participating. That does not make the wrestling programs of high schools and colleges racist, so quit throwing around remarks like that. It does not make the non-black wrestlers, coaches, parents, fans, racist either. If you use that criteria, you could call the NBA a racist organization because of it’s high percentage of black guys, but you’re not doing that, are you? What’s next? Is the NHL a racist organization because there aren’t many black guys that play hockey, either NHL or college or high school? Get a grip. Some of you want to throw the word ‘racist’ around every time something doesn’t go the way YOU think it should. This country, this world, is not all about YOU, has never been, and will never be.
Kangol
BS. Some of the best US wrestlers are African American. Most of Cuba’s team is Black. If you watched the Olympics, you’d have seen that a number of countries had Black wrestlers. And then you have Middle Eastern hotties (Egypt, Morocco, etc.), Asian nations with great wrestlers, and on and on.
Kangol
On the US Olympic Team’s homepage, it shows that 7 of the top-ranked wrestlers in their weight categories (men and women) are Black. 7 out of 24 total slots, or nearly 1 out 3. Depending on the state, and the college, you may find a good number of Black, Latinx, Asian American, and mixed race wrestlers. It depends on where you look. That said, the photographer has a thing for white wrestlers, so that’s his right. But there are Black wrestlers out there. Quite a few, actually.
leobaga
TIL Turkeys men have the most beautiful men in the world. Wow. Just wow.