Elska editor Liam Campbell tells GSN about the process of putting together the London issue of his LGBTI-inclusive indie magazine Elska.
‘Elska Magazine was founded in London. But we wanted to wait until Elska had grown a bit before deciding to tackle our home city. Finally, to mark our three-year anniversary, we launch Elska London.
‘Inside, you’ll meet fifteen local guys. Each get their own chapter featuring several images shot of them in their homes and in their streets, plus a story written by them from their life in the city.
‘I’m a bit unsure how readers from outside London will take the issue. If they’re expecting shots with Buckingham Palace or Big Ben in the background, they’ll be disappointed. Nobody really lives around those places. And we chose to shoot the guys we featured in their own neighborhoods rather than in touristy areas. What you end up with is a lot of East London, a bit from south of the river, and only one central location.
‘The issue is a good reflection of how multicultural London is’
‘One of the aspects that sets this issue apart from any of our others is that the stories the guys wrote tend toward the sombre. It’s a reflection of how hard it is to live in the British capital, accepting a love-hate relationship because of all the opportunities that London life provides.
‘The issue is a good reflection of how multicultural London is. Even though all the guys featured live in London, only around one third of them are actually ethnically English. Malta, Poland, Taiwan, Latvia, the USA, Spain, Lithuania… These are some of the cities where our London guys were actually born. But they all chose eventually to move to London.
‘We shot so many guys in London that we couldn’t fit them inside the main magazine. But you can meet the rest in our companion zine, Elska Ekstra London. It’s available from the website in a download version. And for the first time, there’s also a print zine, but with a strictly limited run of 100 copies.’
To see a list of where Elska Magazine is sold around the world and also to order a copy online, visit elskamagazine.com.
