Andre Ramos-Woodard Explores Queer Masculinity in New Exhibit

Houston-based photographer Andre Ramos-Woodard is among the seven artists participating in Project Row Houses’ Round 60 exhibit entitled “Rooted in Perception.”  The images include newly commissioned works by FotoFest Biennial 2026. A gay man, the 32-year-old Ramos-Woodard describes himself as “an emerging artist,” with much of his work discussing race, gender, and sexuality. OutSmart magazine spoke with Ramos-Woodard about his latest exhibit, including a signature work, Heroes.

Olivia Flores Alvarez: Heroes is an especially impactful piece. Tell us about that image.

Andre Ramos-Woodard: The body of work is about masculinity and the things that have inspired me to be the man that I am today, but also fighting back against the typical aspects of masculinity.

I grew up loving anime and cartoon characters. These fantastical characters inspired me to be courageous and confident. I wanted to bring what I saw in anime and cartoon characters into myself. And so, in Heroes, I’ve covered myself with these characters that I aspire to be.

In Heroes, you have a balaclava on. Why cover up your face?

I wanted people to see themselves in the image.

I wanted to be a stand-in for humanity, or at least manhood in some way, rather than just be Andre. And so I covered my face so that other people can hopefully see themselves in it without having to attach a face, a specific person, to that image.

The piece is part of Round 60 at Project Row Houses, but it is also a new commission for FotoFest.
Correct. I met Steven Evans, the director of FotoFest, in Singapore when I won a photography festival over there. He commissioned me to make a body of work about anything that I wanted to, as long as it was new and current. I had been wanting to make a body of work that was tangentially about queerness and about manhood. This is the result.

How has the reaction to your Project Row Houses exhibit been?
Overwhelmingly positive, to my surprise. I think I have a little bit of imposter syndrome. (laughs) The response has been positive, and I’m happy about that. I also want to represent queerness in a positive way. I’m hoping I’ve done that.

What do you think our readers need to know about you to make sense of your work and your mission?
I think your readers need to know that I’m still learning a lot about who I am and who I want to be in life. I’m uncovering more about the world around me, and as I uncover more about the world, it in turn shapes who I am and how I define myself. I hope people will come to the work with an open mind and understand that as much as I’m trying to define and redefine masculinity, I’m also trying to figure out masculinity. I want people to come to my work with open arms, an open mind, and an open heart.

How does race step into this conversation?
Being Black and queer, those are things that are inescapable for me. Thinking about masculinity and how I was raised, there are ingrained stereotypes that have to do with the way that specifically Black men are “supposed to” carry themselves. Growing up, I never really fit those stereotypes. I’m not the most stoic, not the most masculine person. I never really fit these stereotypes growing up. And so, in the work, I am critiquing these aesthetics and critiquing these ideologies of what a Black man is supposed to be. My work is absolutely about that: just because I am Black and just because I’m queer, doesn’t mean I have to present myself in any particular way. I can be masculine, or I can define my own ideas of masculinity within myself. And so that’s what I’m doing in the work.

Looking at your installation as part of Project Row Houses’ Round 60, what does this exhibit allow you to say?
This really allows me to say that I can define myself; I can be whoever I want to be, for whatever reason I want to be. I think in prior work I had been focusing more specifically on a marginalized or communal experience. But this work is really driven by how I want to define myself. And so I think that I’m really trying to say that I can be whatever I want to be in this work. That’s so wonderful.

WHAT: Round 60: Rooted in Perception
WHERE: Project Row Houses, 2521 Holman
WHEN: Through May 31, 2026
INFO: projectrowhouses.org.