Charles Fox Photographer

I did an internet TV interview with The Wall Street Journal’s – Asia Today programme this morning ( 5/9/12) regarding the Mumbai Male Massuers exhibtition which is embedded below.

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Really pleased to hear this morning that an article about the Mumbai Male Massuers exhibition at the Brunei Gallery got a write on the Wall Street Journal website.

To read the article click here

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Interview on the BBC World Service regarding Mumbai Male Massuers exhibition at the Brunei Gallery

I recently reecived the MP3 ot the interview that went out on the BBC World Service regarding the Mumbai Male Massuers exhibtion.

Was quite pleased they ran the interview long and several times during the night. Have a listen to the interview here BBC World Service interview

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Nice peice of press about the Mumbai Male Massuers exhibition at the Brunei Gallery in The Sunday Times of India.

Click on the image to see a readable version.

Some more to come so will keep you posted.

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Mumbai Male Massuers is now open to the public at the Brunei Gallery until the 22nd of September 2012

The last month has been full on, getting the pictures ready, raising the money through crowd funding. It was all last minute but with 20 minutes to spare

the money came in.

I would like to thank all the people who supported the exhibiton through their time – support and donations

Reece Akhtar – Sandi Arditi – Tom & Leanne Bakewell – Mark Ballinger – Corinne Barton – Patrick Beverage – Jagmohan Bhakar – Rahamut Bhuiyan – Hannah Boatfield

EJ Callahan – Mike & Bronia Cam – Carlotta Cardana – Jane Cassidy – Matt Cetti-Roberts – Claude Chan – Ann Clayton – Ant Colloff – Brandon Davis – Zach Dickeson

Stephen & Jane Doades – Ash Eason – Barb Eason – Brooke Eason -Jock & Diane Eason- Adrian Ellison – Richard Evans – Kirsty Fleming - James Fox -Katy & Martyn Fox

Jenny Fraser – Rebecca Greenhalgh – Caitlin Grover – Belinda Haydon – John & Jenny Haydon – Karen Hayes – Jason Hayman – Lucy Heard – Roger Hearing – James Hooker

Mark Ingram - Mark Ireland – Ryan Joiner – Rasib Karim – Charlotte Kennard – Oliver Kershaw – Fiona Lee – Bob Lineham – John Maloy – Jamie & Michaela Martin 

Simon & Janet Martin – William Martin – Chris McMullan – Natalie Naccache – Katie Nelson – Celine Pasty – Eitan Perry – Mark Phillips – Chris Pitta – Sean Power – Benoit Rajalu

Dan Riley – Virginia Rose – Yvonne & Andrew Ross – Rotary Club of Tower Hamlets – Andrea Ryder – Kim Samath – Flora Savastano – John Scott – Jenna Selby – Emma Sercombe

Tony Sharma – Colleen & Patty Singleton – Dayanny So – Allie Suwanrumpha – Luke Tarplett – Bryony Taylor – Chris Taylor – Patrick & Emma Taynton – Jodie Thomas – Matt Topliss

Stuart & Victoria Towell -Guy & Roma Turner – Richard Twilton -Angela Vestergaard – Voice.org – Tim Waldron – Conor Wall – James Welsh – Richard Wilson – Anna Winfield – Jon & Sally Zigmond

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its now just 16 days till the private view of Mumbai Male Masseurs at the Brunei Gallery, Russell Square, London.

There is now a dedicated page to the exhibtion on the gallery website. Ths stays up for life,  all the exhibtions ever shown at the gallery are listed and theIr pages active making

the gallery site an active archieve of work shown. (click the image to open the gallery website)

I am now 21% funded using a crowd funding site. I still need

much more help. If you understand how difficult it is to get a body of work out there and tell difficult stories then you know the situation I am in right now and any help is appricated.

(click on the image below to make a contribution – Thanks)

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I am immensely proud to announce that after two years of hard work, Mumbai Male Masseurs is set to be exhibited at The Brunei Gallery, London.

The body of work will be on display from the 13th July until the 22nd of September 2012 in a solo exhibition in the first floor gallery.

(ST (26)  came to Mumbai when he was 21 looking for work but could not find any.  He now works as a Masseur; he works the street waiting in bus stops clinking empty bottles to advertise his availability.)

Mumbai Male Masseurs explores the lives of this closed, secretive, invisible community providing primarily massages and in addition to this often sexual service to male clients on the streets and in the hotels of Mumbai.

India’s legal stance on homosexuality is still under debate. The 2009 ruling of the Delhi High Court stating that the colonial laws forbidding “carnal intercourse” were against the Indian Constitution is currently being considered by The Indian Supreme Court. Notwithstanding the legal position, homosexuality is socially stigmatized. This stigmatization has meant that bi-sexual and homosexual men have resorted to clandestine meetings and to using the services of male sex workers masquerading as Masseurs. Massage has been practiced for thousands of years in India which creates a convenient veil for this male-on-male contact.

(All life exists in the living spaces occupied by the Masseurs and the rooms operate as tiny communities)

The Masseurs share single-room dwellings in small and closely-knit communities in the slums of Mumbai. They sleep together and eat together in these small cramped rooms during the day, and at night work the streets of the city.  If the demand is great the masseurs will also work during the day.

The Masseurs are predominantly heterosexual, many of them are married with children and view their job purely as an economic necessity. The pressure to send money home is a constant concern.

The masseurs “Mumbai lives” are generally a secret from their families. However, it is not uncommon for several generations of the same family to be working in Mumbai as masseurs. Older family members coerce younger family members to enter the trade, in an attempt to fulfil the demand for good looking young men.

(RK (24) comes from a farming family and is only educated to 5^th grade.
Arriving in Mumbai 8 years ago he now works as a masseur.)

I have just returned from a nine week trip to Mumbai where I finalised the project. During this time I continued to work with and support the remakable people at Samabhavana, a Mumbai-based NGO who are the only organisation to work with and provide support to the Massuers.

However there is still more to accomplish, I need to raise more funds to help toward the printing costs for the exhibtion. The project is now featured on the Sponsume crowd-funding website. 

I need to raise over £3000 to put the exhibition on. Additonal funds raised will go to the NGO Samabhavana to pay for the travel costs for one of the staff members to come to London and participate in a panel discussion / educational event regarding the themes in the project. Please take the time to watch the video, and if you feel motivated to do so, your donation will be gratefully recieved, as would any posts on social media to raise awareness of the project and the crowd-funding process.