PAPER NEW YORK

I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HANDS
About

Adding to the orientalist fantasy and often the cause of speculation and conjecture are the images of oiled muscular boys and men wrestling in the mud, bathing in the ganges or spending time with each other on the parapets of crumbling temples. These have been captured in popular visual narrative like photo essays and travelogues and now more incessantly on social media.

Opposing and questioning the concept of the Indian patriarch prevalent in the small towns of India, Kshitij Kankaria conceptualized and styled an editorial for PAPER New York. This story shifts the lens onto an alternative gaze and brings out the show of intimacy and closeness that in the most beautiful manner, stands in defiance and opposition of the mainstream narrative.