Eli Rezkallah reverses the roles in vintage adverts in this must-see series.
“Women don’t leave the kitchen.” “You mean a woman can open it?” “Show her it’s a man’s world.”
These sound like tag lines out of TV show Mad Men but, instead, these truly are adverts that ran in the Forties, Fifties and Sixties.
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However one Middle Eastern photographer is turning the tired old stereotypes on their head in his latest project.
Eli Rezkallah, a photographer based in Beirut, has reimagined vintage advertising from the 20th century with the gender roles reversed.
The ‘In a Parallel Universe’ series was conceived after the 31-year-old artist happened to hear a conversation over a family get-together.
“Last Thanksgiving, I was visiting my family in New Jersey and I overheard my uncles talk about how women are better off cooking, taking care of the kitchen, and fulfilling ‘their womanly duties’,” Rezkallah told EmiratesWoman.com.
“Although I know that not all men like my uncles think that way, I was surprised to learn that some still do.”
The artist, who is founder and creative director of Plastik Magazine and Plastik Studio, said that although the ads are dated, “it felt at that moment that their essence is still present in the folds of today’s modern social fabric”.
“I went on to imagine a parallel universe, where roles are inverted and men are given a taste of their own sexist poison,” he added.
The campaigns re-envisioned by Rezkallah include brands such as Hardee’s, Chase & Sanborn coffee and Lux liquid detergent, and the artist says the series has been “well received online and understood by a vast audience”.
“My close family and friends are proud and supportive as they share the same values as mine and strongly believe in the message behind the campaign,” he added.
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“I hope that people who are stuck in stereotypical gender roles imposed by patriarchal societies would be able to visually see the cracks in the limitation that those roles carry through this project.”
Prints from the series are available to buy at elirezkallah.com.
Images: Photography Eli Rezkallah, produced by Plastik Studios 2018.
