Just when we think that Liam Campbell, the Editor in Chief of ELSKA, our favorite globe-trotting quuer photo-zine, must be running out of new countries to explore and feature, he surprises us with his latest discovery. For Elska’s 52nd Edition, Campbell travelled to MOLDOVA, a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Romania and war-torn Ukraine.  It was once part of the USSR but has been an independent democratic republic since 1991, and it is still Europe’s least-visited and poorest country

Homosexuality between consenting adults in private has been legal in Moldova since 1995, and discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace is banned. Same-sex unions are not recognized in the country, so consequently, same-sex couples have little to no legal protection  In September 2002, new laws were introduced equalising the age of consent, even though the country has come increasingly under the influence of the Orthodox Christian Church.  Progress still comes at a price like when they had a successful pride parade in May 2018 in the capital Chișinău,  police officials had to protect the participants from violent radical Orthodox groups.

Its against this background that Campbell hot-footed it to Moldova a little uncertauin what to expect but he told Queerguru “I found Chisinau to be a truly lovely city and its LGBTQ+ community was feeling a buoyant buzz from a recent Pride event, one that went by peacefully and with the highest attendance on record. However, during my discussions with individual local men, I discovered a cleavage within the community that followed the lines of the city’s demographic split between people of Romanian and Russian heritages. Gay spaces seemed geared towards one group or the other, creating separation and sometimes resentment. Political and social topics came up almost constantly when meeting our local subjects, making this one of our most political issues… though still with a lot of sexy, naked men!”

The narrative in Elska Chisinau was formed from extensive diaries taken from start to finish during the trip to Moldova, including details of conversations and time spent with several local men met there. These men were also invited to take part in a photoshoot, encompassing a combination of photographs in the streets with clothes and at home without clothes. These images add a deeper, more intimate side, resulting in a reading experience that is a sort of sexy anthropology journal meets queer art book.