“There is a certain degree of nakedness and sensuality in my pictures,” French photographer Laurent Goldstein tells Queerty in an exclusive interview, “but you have to keep in mind that these are candid shots of ordinary life happening in front of my camera.”
Goldstein relocated to Varanasi, India from Paris after a successful career as an art director in the fashion industry.
Spoken like a true Frenchman, he explains, “Varanasi is the oldest living city in the world, where time is frozen between dreams and reality like an everlasting dawn, [and] where I decided to leave my heart and soul.”
It was in Varanasi that Goldstein launched a line of household linens called Red Halo, and began photographing the everyday lives of the people around him. He has a number of images that feature Indian men bathing together in the river.
“Most of the pictures are shot in Varanasi and mainly along the Ganges,” he says. “The Ganges is the most sacred river to Hindus and is worshipped as goddess Ganga. It is said that the river is purifying, absorbing impurities and symbolic dirt and taking them away.”
“Everywhere people bathe in its holy waters,” he continues, “paying homage to their ancestors and to the gods, mostly to Lord Shiva depicted as the ‘Bearer of the Ganga’ with a spout of water rising from his hair.”
Goldstein describes his work as “spontaneous” and “candid.”
“From a Western perspective you might consider these pictures homoerotic,” he says. “There is undoubtedly something striking there.”
But in India, he explains, “men’s body language doesn’t mean the same … To any Indian they are performing an unambiguous straight behavior.”
Scroll down to see a sampling of Goldstein’s work, and view more on his Facebook and Flickr pages.
Published for one-time use only with permission from Laurent Goldstein. Photographs may not be saved, copied or republished on any other website.
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NG22
It’s time to plan a trip to India.
Lvng1Tor
EBOLA!!! Oh sorry I saw brown skinned people and had a case of “White Fright” my bad…so sorry…I meant They’re taking our jobs!!! I’d still [email protected] most of em though.
NoCagada
I’m surprised QUEERTY has never picked up on this:
GOOGLE “Indian pole gymnastics”…quite a treat and extremely athletic. I happened to stumble upon it one day. It’s really amazing.
gauty
Yes to every single one of them. Hawt diggity. But um, a resounding no on bathing in the Ganges, thank you very much.
money718
@gauty: That’s what I was thinking also.
Will L
East Indian men can be very hot. Thanks, NoCagada, for the Google tip. I’d never heard of that before.
Sweet Boy
They same river where they dump burnt human corpses?
Thanks but no thanks…
Kieran
What’s so sensual about watching turds float past you as you attempt to “bathe” in a polluted, germ-infested river?
SportGuy
@Kieran:
LMAO, yeah there is nothing sexy in any of these pictures.
Paco
“From a Western perspective you might consider these pictures homoerotic,” he says. “There is undoubtedly something striking there.”
I see homosocial behavior in some of the pictures, but nothing I would consider to be homoerotic. I think the two often get misconstrued.
Black Pegasus
@Paco: good point! As these photos illustrates, the world outside of the United States not only has beautiful men of all colors, but differing social norms as well.
james_in_cambridge
They are so sexy and muscle-y.
Crunchysocks
How many half-rotted baby carcasses and raw sewing do you think is in between these guy’s nutsacs?
Crunchysocks
sewage*
Milk
@Crunchysocks: And you’ll have no issue licking their nutsacs when offer.:P
Billy Budd
Of course there is nothing gay about their bathing together, but I would still invite them to my Air Conditioned hotel room, offer them a proper bath and would/could have sex with a number of them.
Bob LaBlah
Correct me if I’m wrong but I do believe the races of the world are negroid, mongoloid and finally caucasoid. So where do these dark skinned, beautiful guys come in? They certainly aren’t white. What are they? I never really thought about them until now.
Ronbo
@Bob LaBlah: Asian/Mongoloid. Or more importantly… yummy.
hephaestion
Indians are Caucasian (or caucasoid if you prefer).
My favorite Indian hottie is actor John Abraham. Google him if you haven’t seen him. He is the hottest man on earth and he is wonderfully pro-gay.
Polyboy
The amount of pearl clutching about the cleanliness of the river is laughable.
All rivers have poo, chemicals, carcases, and the like. There is no such thing as “pure” water where there are animals and run off and such.
If you go into the ocean, you’re swimming where animals poo, give birth, and die, and have chemicals and garbage dumped. Swim in a river or lake same thing.
Crunchysocks
@Polyboy:
Rivers like the Ganges, though, are notorious for the nasty side of bacterial-infested excrement.
stranded
@Polyboy: But according to this 20/20 special I saw…
lol, j/k.
Some people are just Debbie Downers, this post was to celebrate beautiful Indian men, instead people took it to water sanitation.
hagonarag
Um… how about just enjoy the men?
Crunchysocks
@hagonarag:
I just can’t enjoy cholera.
raj112
@Bob LaBlah: There are many races in india. They are not at all caucasoid If they were than they would have fairer skin tone. They are the pepole of australoid and negroid race. They are indigenous pepole of india.Pepole of this races are generally considered as DALITS. Which constitues 80% of indian population.
If you go to north india than you will find the pepole of caucasoid races.
But admixture of races india for the thousand years created lot of brown skin pepole too.
Nikkidane
Beautiful.
Josh Copeland
Also…they’re performing death and mourning rituals. That’s not attractive.
Maggie Brown
Oogling funeral pictures? What is wrong with you people?
Steve Padilla
Its polluted
Christopher Meiners
Uh… No. Lord knows what is floating in the river.
Anthony Tacca
No thanks.
David Bower
Sid Nadkarni, you know you want to.
Chip Byas-Ortega
eeww the ganges is a toilet.. no ty..
Chris L. Reynolds
The intention of these photos are beautiful!
Fredrick Bertz
Although the men might be gorgeous, it feels wrong to sexualize this religious and deeply spiritual act.
Brad Mann
Was there last year and don’t think I’ll be jumping in …
Tony Hinojosa
Yuck! Filthy river!
Cole Steele
no thanks
onthemove
@Fredrick Bertz:
Finally I get to read one comment that sees beyond these images or rather a larger picture. Of course these images are beautiful and so are these men, no doubt about that. But what amazes me as an artist/photojournalist (Indian) how the world looks at images and in so many contexts. I read all the comments and realise how little we know about a place/culture/rituals and customs and form our opinion based on few images. Interesting to see these images on site site, that I follow regularly, though I had see these images before on FB.
As for the river Ganaga and the place, those who find it YUCK, must visit the city once in their life time, I am sure the photographer would agree too. Mind I too find the river dirty and have never taken the dip but the city Varanasi is one city in India that is a must visit.
Zio Nocsg de Janeiro
mmmm i LOVE indian men!
James Wilbanks
Only one word “HOT”
Alan Renstead
Queerty, you do nothing to dispel the polarising notion that being gay is all about the physical and sexual……zzzzzz.
Jedadiah Brown
Jonathan King looks familiar right??
Jonathan King
oh wee yes. i’ll take a few please. reminds me of the boys doing the back flips in the glowing water at that fort
Francisco Carazo Coronado
A good and a artistic photo of that young man, is beautiful …!!!
scotshot
@stranded: @Polyboy: et al.
Besides human waste the Ganges also contains waste water from industrial sources: tanneries, chemical plants, textile plants, textile mills, distilleries, slaughter houses, etc. Dive on in!
For those who prefer treated water, consider a weekend in Flint, Michigan where you may take long soaks in their famous leaded water and marvel it’s medicinal qualities by drinking several liters a day.