Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA. Every month, an unusual event takes place in this small town. Two people go head-to-head in a fist fight to settle a dispute. This ‘street-beef’ takes place in a backyard known as ‘Satan’s Backyard’. The host, Christopher alias Scarface, imposes a few basic rules. The presence of witnesses and a mobile phone film the fights and guarantee a “fair” result. The fight transcends the adversaries and offers a certain form of liberation, as well as the restoration of a once-lost honour.

This ring, an attempt at civility in the midst of ambient incivility, is the starting point for a photographic investigation into the exercise of virility, masculinity and violence as the root of a symbolic order. It is the culmination of other forms of violence – economic and social – that affect the city and its various neighbourhoods, and which the photographer captures through the personal accounts of its residents. Between brutality and tenderness, reality and fantasy, the works exude a disturbing and moving ambivalence, unsettling both the viewer and the viewer.