Ordinary gay men of Athen share their stories...and bodies.
The real men of Athens, Greece are centered in the latest issue of Elska Magazine.
Dedicated to sharing the bodies and voices that represent the LGBTQ+ communities around the globe, Elska Magazine lets readers get up close and personal with a cross-section of ordinary men, this time from the Greek capital.
“Athens turned out to be one of the more difficult locations to find participants for our project," Liam Campbell, editor and chief photographer of Elska Magazine, said in a statement. “Or to be more precise, the people we spoke to tended to have a lot of worries about how much they should reveal and who might find out about their participation. Athens is an ancient city full of iconic sites, history, and tradition, but this comes accompanied by a certain about of traditionalism that makes it not so easy to be gay and open here. Those who think of Greece as a hedonistic queer paradise are probably confusing it with holidays on islands like Mykonos and the antics of tourists. But for a local living in the Greek capital, things can be rather more conservative.”
Despite their initial hesitancy, the gay men of Athens eventually decided to let down their guard and share their truths with Elska Magazine.
“But something quite magical happened once these men stepped in front of our camera,” Campbell. “It seemed that they were able to tap into some of that ‘island spirit’ and let go. Some of that anxiety remained, but alongside came a desire to challenge social norms and proudly share the most vulnerable, queer, and beautiful aspects of themselves.”
All images provided courtesy Elska Magazine
www.elskamagazine.com @elskamagazine
