6.7"x9.4", 196p, full colour, sewn-bound, offset-printed, and on 130gsm (90lb) internal matte paper and 280gsm (110lb) textured coated coverage paper with flaps
Elska sez:
This edition was made in Dublin, Ireland. Here we met a smattering of local guys from one of Europe's most historic cities and also one of its most up-and-coming, with a population that is becoming more and more diverse and an LGBTQ community that is becoming more and more vibrant. We introduce this city to you via its men, who you can get to know through a selection of intimate photography and personal storytelling.
Shot during a unique summertime lull within the COVID-19 pandemic, when Ireland was growing cautiously optimistic, this is one of our most cheerful issues. The outdoor images reveal a lot more sunshine than the Irish climate typically allows, and a real sense of warmth extends to the indoor images, which reveal much more intimacy, including nudity, than we expected to come from this nation. The stories as well are rather light, including topics such as meeting men on beer-fueled nights out, getting excited over Adele concerts, hooking up with ‘straight’ boys in cars, and even finding something positive to come out of the pandemic.
Here at Elska we love to visit places that fill our minds with preconceptions and then attempt to break the stereotypes - in this way our Dublin issue may be one of the most surprising, full of sun, sex, freedom and hope from a country that we thought would be much more conservative and well, a bit damp. It's a great issue to mark what may hopefully be the end of the COVID-19 era, and something to get us dreaming about a future holiday to Ireland someday soon.