Camaraderie in India
In India, I was struck by the frequency of seeing men walking down the street casually holding hands or with arms locked, which is far less common in New York City where I live. Why are men so comfortable with physical intimacy in some places and not in others? In American culture, this kind of body language between men in public has been frowned upon by mainstream society although it is very slowly becoming acceptable among gay men. I doubt that most of the men I saw walking so affectionately in India were gay. It’s more likely that Indian culture embraces this free expression of friendship and kinship through physical intimacy. I found this so remarkable and moving that I decided to document this discovery through my photographs of cities and small villages throughout my travels in India.
Alternately, the sight of women holding hands or with arms locked doesn’t lead one to presume that they are LGBT. Why is it more acceptable for women to show affection in public but not men? How has this acceptance (and rejection) evolved in our culture? I’ve seen photographs and tintypes from the mid-1800s showing affection between men. There’s even a book of photographs entitled “Affectionate Men: A Photographic History of a Century of Male Couples, 1850-1950” that idiosyncratically demonstrates that affectionate gestures, regardless of relationship, camaraderie or sexual orientation, were more acceptable 150 years ago than they are today.
The experience in India of having a young man take my hand to guide me around his village made me feel very welcome and accepted. I hope I was able to capture the beautiful spirit of these open and expressive, affectionate men in my photographs.