Dean Majd: Hard Feelings

A searing first monograph shaped by grief, offering an intimate portrait of friendship, masculinity, and graffiti culture in New York City.

Dean Majd’s first monograph, Hard Feelings, is a searing record of friendship, masculinity, and graffiti culture, unfolding as an unforgettable, cinematic portrait of New York City. In 2016, Majd began photographing the dynamics of his predominately male circle in the aftermath of one friend’s passing. Majd offers a candid view into contemporary masculinity that is seldom seen. By earning the trust of his friends, he offers a candid window into how young men of color—many of them, like Majd, the children of immigrants—determine their own lives. Hard Feelings takes into its sweep the trials of addiction, relationships, self-destruction, and self-invention. “The people in my images are my family, my blood,” Majd says. “I love them deeply, and through that love, these images are made.”