20th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Artistic
Closet

When I heard this word I found it more interesting than closet and I decided to title my new collection "Closet", it is the most intimate work I have created so far and it defines the moment I am going through. My name is Alberto Cob and I'm a photographer from Madrid who is 41 years old. And yes, I'm still in the closet. It seems unthinkable that at this age I am still questioning how to tell my parents that I have a romantic relationship with a man. We live in a society that advances very slowly in sexual freedom, prejudging, discriminating and even assaulting those who do not fit into what has been unfairly defined as normal. Who decides what is normal? When will we have to stop hiding our sexuality and it will simply be a quality of ours, on the same level as hair or eye color? I was afraid to submit this project, because if selected it would mean my coming out of the closet, but I thought, how long is my sexuality going to limit me? My current partner is helping me in this process, and I thought, who better than him to pose as a model in my latest collection?

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 09.2021
Date Uploaded: 11.2022
Photo Location: Asturias, Spain
Camera: NIKON D610
Copyright: © Alberto Cob