After shooting the last issue of Elska in Istanbul, editor and chief photographer Liam Campbell stayed in the Middle East traveling to Israel and its 3rd largest city Haifa. At the beginning of this century, Haifa suffered a population drain as young people moved in vast numbers to the bustling capital Tel Aviv. However, as a result of new projects and improving infrastructure, the city managed to reverse its population decline, and by 2009, positive net immigration into the city was shown for the first time in 15 years.
Gay rights in Israel are considered the most developed in the Middle East and Haifa has a wonderful cosmopolitan queer community. It boasts almost equal amounts of Jews, Arabs, and immigrants from the former Soviet Union. However, with this diversity, it was mainly Jewish gay men who were probably a little less conservative than their neighbors who answered Campbell’s call. Luckily they could be persuaded to reach out to their Arab friends to join in what ended up as one of Elska’s more diverse editions.
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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 neighborhoods, their style, and their personalities. 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.
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‘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.
