Boys Will Be Gods

I use figure sculpture to examine the performance of Southern masculinity through classical myth and storytelling, exploring how these narratives shape identity, power, and place. My figures exist in states of dominance or veneration, echoing the rituals that define manhood in the rural South. Utilizing Greek legends of strength and conquest, I build a contemporary legendarium where masculinity is proven through violence. In these works, I relate being queer to being a hunted animal, framing the “hero” as a camouflage-clad man triumphing over his quarry or standing as an unchallenged figure of authority.

Bubba Philosophers features forms of Southern men that feel at once familiar yet uncanny, interweaving personal memory and cultural familiarity. Spoils stages battles between man and beast, relating ancient trials of strength and skill to the violence embedded in hunting culture. Where Bubba Philosophers are figures that live in a state of glorification, the scenes in Spoils are the epic battles that readied them for worship.

Bio

Henry Cunningham graduated Maine College of Art & Design, where he earned a BFA in Ceramics with a minor in Sustainable Ecosystems & Design in May, 2025. His work has been shown in student exhibitions and at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Wiscasset, Maine.

Cunningham creates work about transition, the transgender experience, and his personal definition of masculinity, informed by his childhood growing up in rural Alabama and Georgia. Working primarily in red earthenware to create bodily structures and portraits, Cunningham draws from contemporary queer culture and rural Southern culture.