Manscaping is an intimate documentary portrait of three queer men who are reimagining the traditional barbershop. Devan Shimoyama is a Black American artist, fast on the rise, whose barbershop painting series draws upon Afrofuturism and drag to envision the Black barbershop as a more inclusive space. Jessie Anderson is a young transgender Canadian barber and proprietor of Big Bro’s Barbershop, where trans, gender nonconforming, and queer customers know they won’t have to ‘go back into the closet’ to get a haircut. Richard Savvy, Australia’s ‘naked barber’, is a fetish barber/porn actor, and former ‘Sydney Mr. Leather’ who invites you to leave your shame and clothes at the door and to add the transformative power of kink to your cut. Their stories, artistry, and activism model ways we can cut through the toxicity of male fragility in favor of social inclusion and personal freedom.
Artist Devan Shimoyama working on his barbershop painting series Sweet in his Pittsburgh studio.
Jessie Anderson providing a haircut in his Vancouver establishment, Big Bro’s Barbershop.
Richard Savvy, The Naked Barber, gives a client a cut in Sydney, Australia.