Elska, a project dedicated to sharing the bodies and voices of LGBTQ+ communities worldwide, has travelled to Mumbai for its latest edition. Inside, readers are invited to take a closer look at gay life in the Indian metropolis through a combination of intimate and honest photography and personal storytelling.

Thirteen men are featured throughout the 180-page publication and its companion zine, Elska Ekstra Mumbai. Each was photographed in a natural, spontaneous style in their homes and city’s streets, with a sensual-documentary style present throughout.

The images accompany personal stories penned by the models, with topics varying widely. Rehaan D contributes a series of imagined coming out letters to his grandmother; Saif G writes an ode to chasing true love despite the impending doom of falling for someone of a different caste; and Faraz A includes a scandalously vivid poem about his love for foreskin.

Speaking about the new edition, Elska editor and chief photographer Liam Campbell said: “Quite soon after Elska was launched, people were describing it as a showcase for diversity, particularly in how it furthers visibility of different races, ages, and body types. At first this was fully unintentional — the point of Elska was just to travel to different cities, meet a random bunch of local guys, and then share their images and stories in some sort of print publication — but once people started describing how much Elska’s approach meant to them, and how they felt more a part of the LGBTQ community for seeing ‘people like us’, I felt a responsibility to keep going.

“It was then after a chat with some friends in LGBTQ media who asserted that the South Asian community sees the least representation that I decided to head to India for our next issue.”

Campbell explained that he originally spotlighted queer life in Mumbai for the tenth issue of Elska, but it didn’t perform well, becoming their all-time lowest seller at the time.

“However, as Elska has continued to grow over the years, having recently published our forty-sixth issue, I decided to do a reissue of Mumbai,” the photographer continued.

“While I’m not certain it will fare better this time, considering that South Asian visibility is still so low and undervalued, I’m absolutely proud of our Indian showcase, an issue that is one of my all-time favourites.” 

Elska Mumbai is purchasable from select shops around the world, as well as online from the official website. The accompanying zine is also available, featuring hundreds of pages of outtakes and behind-the-scenes tales, as well as stories and images of a few folks from beyond Mumbai, including guest photo artists Mitch Cullen and Alcibiade de Paros.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Elska Magazine (@elskamagazine)