A visual narrative for the song ‘Like a Man’, exploring toxic masculinity and healthier identities
Like a Man
TIMELINE & TOOLS
Art direction, production/ set design, and styling, 6 weeks.
ABOUT
The project was inspired by Barahmé’s song Like a Man, which examines masculinity in two parts: the toxic and the tender. Across staged photo carousels and a full music video, we built visual narratives that first mirror what society accepts and normalizes, then challenge those ideas through satire and vulnerability, and finally reimagine masculinity as something healthy, expressive, and whole.
Photo Series
I translated Barahmé’s vision into concrete visual ideas for the carousels, exploring ways to represent toxic and healthy masculinity through set design, props, clothing, and styling. Shooting took place across indoor and outdoor locations, including his apartment and mine, where I creatively utilized existing props and materials to build each scene. My role spanned art direction, set design, and styling, shaping the overall aesthetic while collaborating closely with photographers Abdullahi and Baker. The staged photo series was designed to echo the duality of Barahmé’s song through 4+ carousels, each exploring a facet of masculinity—what’s normalized, what’s mocked, and what’s reimagined. The text overlays were written and edited by Abdullahi, and Barahmé himself was the model and subject.
Carousel 1 — A hidden pain: men’s emotions buried in silence.
Carousel 2 — What society expects of men: detached, chaotic, unbothered.
Carousel 3 — The impossible measures of manhood—man up, mask up, measure up.
Carousel 4 — Cockiness and dominance, celebrated as success but hollow beneath.
Carousel 5 — A celebration of gentler masculinity expressed through creativity and reflection.
Carousel 6 — An Arab man reclaiming softness and domesticity without losing himself.
