Hoda Afshar in an Iranian photographer current living in Melbourne, Australia. Her latest series is titled “Behold” and it’s absolutely stunning.
“Behold” was shot in a small town in Iran that mostly leaves its gay residents alone… on one condition: that they keep their sexuality a secret.
Related: PHOTOS: The Secret Homoerotic Lives Of Cuban Men
A group of men invited Afshar inside the town’s male bathhouse to document their lives. The series first opened at Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, and is now showing at Horsham Regional Gallery through May 14.
Scroll down for a sampling of “Behold”…
h/t: The Guardian
flipper
Wonderful photographs. Hope they get to Canada. Pity Hoda Afhar’s website doesn’t have a way to buy prints of these.
ingyaom
Does keeping their homosexuality “secret” include appearing in photographs in The Guardian newspaper? Wonderful pictures, but I hope these guys don’t end up being hassled (or worse) now that the world can see who they are.
Seattle.Duck
I was thinking the same. But they invited her, so any trouble they get is what they brought upon themselves. ??
Toofie
It’s pretty difficult to ID anyone in the pics from lighting and positions.
Ditamo
You can barely see their faces.
ChrisK
Pretty brave of them since Iran still has the death penalty for being gay.
Billy Budd
This is terrific stuff! Religion may turn people into assassins, but it will never win the battle against human nature. We will do what we desire to do, no matter what. I hope they publish this as a coffee table book.
Iowa Rex
I disagree that “religion will never win the battle against human nature.” It already has. It’s been said that good people will generally do good things, and bad people will generally do bad things, but it takes religion to make good people do bad things.
Kangol
I really appreciate these photos and the courage it took these men to share their lives. It shows that despite the caricatures of a country like Iran, the real people in it are as complex and share the same hopes, desires and fears as everyone elsewhere. I also really worry about these men’s safety, especially since some of their faces are exposed, and because homophobes in Iran (or outside) may decide to figure out where they are. Perhaps not featuring the photos of the men’s faces at least, on this or any other website, is something to consider.
inbama
Absolutely frightening that people would expose themselves to such danger.
Seattle.Duck
They hide their faces yet that doesn’t guarantee they won’t be discovered. I believe this is reckless behavior on their part.
Ditamo
You can barely see their faces.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
My eyes got veruccas
Iowa Rex
Your eyes got /warts/?
Bob LaBlah
This is b/s. What raises a flag is how dark all of the pictures are and they all seem to take place in a shower area with every pic posed for. Its just too hard to believe that in a society such as Iran men can meet anywhere in groups without anyone questioning as to why there are meeting. Surely some one noticed these men going into that building and staying as long as they probably did. How many of you bathe with your clothes on?
BC
Dob’t be so quick to judge based on your perceptions/standards. I think you may never have visited places like Turkey, Iran, Morocco etc where local bath houses still exist. There are strict segregated bathing times for men and women. Most do not allow full nudity and you either have a towel wrapped around you or wear your swim trunks but more often than not, your briefs. And these places tend to be social gathering spots for men (not necessarily gay) where they spend easily 2 to 3 hours relaxing in the warm rooms which tend to have heated flooring (or heated raised slabs) and a steamy relaxing environment. Men take turns to rub/clean each others’ backs and there usually is a professional scrubber you pay money to give you a rubdown with a rough mitten/cloth that rids you of your dead outer skin. That’s what the guy lying on the floor was probably in the midst of doing. Based on my experiences of visiting such bath houses, the pictures are real and a true depiction of what its like. Lighting is dim and the photographer has done a brilliant job in giving them a really cool vibe.
ElPillo
LaBlah, you must have little world experience out of the US and the West
masteradrian031
Blah blah! Your forget that these men were able to be themselves while in that (now closed) bathhouse, that the people around them accepted them as they are! You also forget obviously that the identity is more or less kept secret by the dark pics, and you seem ignorant to the fact that a. a lot of people bath with underpants on, b. nudeness among muslims is a serious not-done act (unless porn, and these pics are surely not pornographic!), and c. that Iranian Gay men can not meet in any place they want, unless they want to be exposed by neighbors, infiltrated cover-up cops of the moral police! Perhaps you should inform yourself on the Iranian situation of gay people
Juanjo
I have to agree with the others commenting here. I have been in public steam baths in many parts of the world where they are still found. One does NOT walk around naked and men gather, sit, and socialize. Not to mention men gathering in groups is not unusual in countries like Iran where the genders are often segregated in public. They gather in cafes or on the sidewalk in front of the cafe, drinking tea or other beverages, smoking, and chatting for hours. There are wrestling and other athletic events, as well as, musical venues where men gather, watch the show and socialize. As BC mentions there are also plenty of neighborhood bathhouses where the sexes are segregated and men gather at the end of their day and sit in the steam, bathe, and socialize. Nothing sexual about it in general.
Parisguy
Bob LaBlah–you’ve obviously never been inside a real hammam, where men are NEVER openly naked. They wear cloths wrapped around them, or often, wear underwear, such as seen in these pics. In Arab countries, men spend hours each day in the hammam, and no one wonders why men are going in and staying inside so long. Having been in hammams in many different cities in Turkey, as well as Morocco, every single one had people dressed exactly as they are in these captivating photos. There are almost never ‘lights’ inside hammams; they are lit by openings in tile and stucco roofs, and as the day lingers, the spaces become more and more somber….
Bob LaBlah
As dirty as the place looks its doubtful that I will ever see the inside of one of those places.
Juanjo
Bob – no one is asking you to go.
nm4047
doesn’t look any different to a Turkish bath, everyone is covered etc and though implied, the rules are very clear not touching and all is ok.
girldownunder
How did a woman get into a male-only bathhouse? No one noticed the woman & her cameras?
masteradrian031
Read the article I’d say! They rented the building, and probably that be the reason it now is non-existent anymore, a woman having been inside a male-only bathhouse!
dfwenigma
Incredible culture. I agree about how dirty it is. It does look filthy. Part of it may simply be that maintaining such a place is costly – especially under repressive regiemes. Bath house culture varies by society. I see people are taken aback by US American rather prudish views of the bath house. But keep in mind that unlike the Finns, Swedes, some Danes and Germans, the bathhouse is largely a non-western concept. When gay men think of bath houses they assume the most lurid side of things. And in most cases in the US that’s true. That’s also not to say that bath houses don’t become sex dens in some cultures as well. But making conclusions about what we see from a distinctly western perspective is probably not very accurate. In northern Michigan where I come from people often run naked through freezing cold weather, pour freezing cold water on themselves and then rush inside a steamed hut like the bath houses that is beyond boiling hot The Finns traditionally use a certain type of wood that they pommel each other with. The result is pores that express most of the nastiest stuff our body produces. Finns claimed they were naturally healthier – and happier as a result of these and other practices. I suspect they obtained this as I would assume the Persians did – from the Mongolians. Very different from western gay bathhouses though in some ways.
SPEEDOSWIMMER
Got me all moist…
martin_erickson
@BC:(and others ) It’s been my experience that first- and second-generation Middle Eastern immigrant men and youth retain at least briefs in the shower as well as the rest of the locker room. Apologies to all, because this observation is credible only if ibe accepts stereotyping, but it’s also based on personal conversations and direct experience with a small cohort of the stereotyped group, men who could identify said immigrants. Rationalizing? Perhaps, but the larger issue is, I agree with BC and others with similar comments.
Where I am going with this is: 1. It seems to me wearing garments while showering defeats the purpose and also could promote microorganism growth. 2. WTF? Don’t these guys realize white cotton is transparent when wet?!? Oh, wait, maybe they do…..?
Stephen
If I could do one thing in life it would be to get one or more LGBTQI men that want out of Iran into Canada. The challenge is that the guest visitors flying into Iran are given strict instructions to never leave there hotel until the escort arrives or they will spend time confined in hotel for duration of their stay. Free access to meet Persian men is challenging. I could not think of a more challenging and rewarding gift to our brothers and sisters. Pray for our family in Iran.
Stephen
If anyone knows how to contact Persian gay men please let me know. I would love to sponsor someone to Canada.
WindsorOntario
What about helping out our fellow gay men already in Canada? We need to take care of our own citizens experiencing homelessness through homophobia and discrimination before bringing in those from other nations.
gymmuscleboy
Resettling the third world into western countries, as virtuous as it sounds, could only serve a drop in the bucket at best. People need to be helped where they are.
nightwolff
im persian, i can help you buddy xx
WindsorOntario
It’s not a bathhouse. I see no 500 pound men running around; I also see no 90 pound waifs meandering down the halls either.
CityguyUSA
How erotic or queer is it in a country where men often hold hands walking down the street and wash each other in the baths? By not allowing women to go with and do the same things as men the men resort to what we consider “gay behavior”. They don’t look at it with the same homophobic views as the western world in my opinion.
gymmuscleboy
Iran is an utterly homophobic place. They have the death penalty for homosexuality. If they do not look upon men holding hands and bathing together with homophobia, it is not because they lack homophobia – it is because they are so totally homophobic that they refuse to accept homosexuality could exist in the first place.
Do you remember when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (then President of Iran) famously replied to an American who asked about homosexuality in Iran by saying “We don’t have homosexuals like in your country”?