Elska, a project dedicated to sharing the bodies and voices of LGBTQ communities around the world, has put the spotlight on Haifa, Israel for its latest issue. Inside, readers can get to know a cross-section of ordinary men from the LGBTQ community of Israel’s most diverse big city, including representatives from locals with Jewish, Arab, and post-Soviet backgrounds, presenting them through intimate photography and personal stories.
“We had countless requests from readers to make an issue in Israel,” says Elska editor and chief photographer Liam Campbell, “though undoubtedly it was Tel Aviv that they were hoping for. However, I felt strongly that if we were to take Elska to this country then we needed to ensure particularly that we would include men from Arab and Jewish backgrounds in particular. However when we looked at Tel Aviv’s demographic statistics, revealing the Jewish population at 92%, we knew it wouldn’t be the right choice. So we looked at Haifa, the country’s third-largest city, which boasts almost equal proportions of Jews, Arabs, and people from the former Soviet Union. This fact, plus the city’s beautiful sun, sea and mountains setting, made the choice easy.“
“However, even with Haifa’s diversity, the vast majority of people who responded to our call for participants came from Jews, perhaps suggesting that their community was less conservative or more LGBTQ-friendly” continues Liam. “But rather than ignore the issue, I told our Jewish subjects about our goals and they were extremely helpful to spread the word to their non-Jewish friends, passionate that a view of Israel as a multi-ethnic, multi- religious state must be portrayed. Despite the various troubles that beset this land, the issue we made here turned out more hopeful and harmonious than we could have imagined.“
Inside ‘Elska Haifa’ and the companion zine ‘Elska Ekstra Haifa’ a total of twenty-two local men from the rainbow community are presented. Each was photographed in the streets of their city, where they got to reveal their neighbourhoods, their style, and their personalties. The majority were also photographed in their homes, revealing even more of their lives, and their bodies as well.
Adding further to the readers‘ sense of getting to know these men, each participant also contributed a personal story, written themselves in either Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, or English (and followed by English translations where applicable), on a variety of topics true to their lives. These include tales of love and loss, of seeking self-acceptance, of searching for a better and freer life, of ‘sexcapades‘, and of what queer life is like in this town.
‘Elska Haifa’ is 180 pages and is available from select shops around the world as well as for order online from the Elska website. In addition, the comparison zine ‘Elska Ekstra Haifa’ is available, including hundreds of pages of outtakes, behind the scenes tales, extra boys and extra stories. The list of stockists and details of the subscription service can also be found on the Elska website: www.elskamagazine.com.
