The alley is filled with fresh blossoms,
the house smells of desire,
and fantasies of the garden of love.
Climbing up the marital synergy.
One step at a time,
Together, hand in hand,
stepping on each other’s footprints, as promises lead their ways.
The house is filled with laughter,
and playful banter, the loudest being their beating hearts.
The eyes are full
Consumed by love and dreams
The quivering lips yearn
the nectar tantalizing off the sensory platter.
They gravitate to embrace, and taste the celestial union.
It’s the sun & the moon and the universe to become.
The novice anticipation, the erupting desires the rippling excitement, anxious heartbeats, cold feet, and warm breaths. This sacred communion is of the traveled souls that meet again, yet again, multiple incarnations later to consummate their divine love, shedding them earthly bodies to read their love letter written souls.
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Gaysi: What inspired you to undertake this project? Why now?
Naina Kumar: I identify as a pansexual person. For me, when it comes to love, gender is the least important thing. I believe I am in love with the moon. I have noticed that how ever much gender-empowering, LGBTQ+ content people read, they somehow never visualize it as [realistically], because they haven’t seen anything like that [in real life] and our brain is conditioned to disregard things that we haven’t experienced. Sadly, not everyone is blessed with perspectives and imagination nor are they brave enough to accept the reality. They need visual [exposure] to even perceive it in its purest form.
Mostly their mind would bend towards bizarre kinkiness when they hear a word like queer. And unfortunately, I can’t expect them to see it like I do. Thus, I came up with the idea to create a visual treat so divine that the next time they hear queer marriage or togetherness, these images will pop up in their mind. The timing for the project seemed perfect as we are fighting for the legalization of [queer] marriages in India, and I think when people see my photo series they will see beyond gender, [and see it for our] love, pure and sacred.
G: Please share what you mean by marriage being a union of masculine and feminine energies. What does masculine energy signify? And the feminine energy?
NK: Well, ritualistically marriage is bringing the feminine and masculine (yin and yang/Shiva and Shakti) together to create a divine equilibrium which helps nature and its beings flourish. Any imbalance is considered destructive. Now, technically, it is bringing the two opposite energies together in synergy to run the circuit of the cosmos for good.
Feminine energy is full of wisdom; it is nurturing, expressive, creative and healing in nature, whereas Masculine energies are active, supportive, constructive, [providers], definitive, and stable. Independently, they both are in their extremes but when put together they are a superpower. Every human has feminine and masculine [energies] inside of us, the percentage differs in different bodies. So when we co-exist in symmetry we can reach our higher selves faster.
G: The picture of the pomegranate is striking to me. Is there a reason? Does it symbolize something?
NK: Thank you for asking me this. Across mythologies, from Greek to Chinese, and religions from Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism to Buddhism, the Pomegranate fruit is considered a fruit of marriage. It’s one of the sacred fruits having various medical benefits and is also an aphrodisiac. Many artists have painted pomegranate as a symbol of fertility, or the consummation of a marriage, thus the use of the fruit on the bed. Also in one frame, you see the [person embodying the] Feminine energy bringing the fruit, which depicts her bringing abundance to the home
G: Is marriage important to build a home? Why?
NK: Philosophically, it’s not important to marry to build a home together. Because marriage is just a societal ceremony that is instrumentalized to bring accountability in urban society and systems. But, if a couple requires or needs to officiate or legalize a companionship to avail the benefits cis-gender couples are given like shared healthcare, life insurance, or property rights, then marriage does play an important part. So I think it’s up to each couple to decide, the idea is to first ‘Become Home’ in the cosmic sense where you blend like yin & yang or Shiva-Shakti. And I do think these divine unions bring a surge of sacredness, which definitely balances nature and helps healing.
Credit list
Concept, Creative Director
& Stylist: Naina Kumar @naina_humangram
Make-up and hair: Dellsi Mody @dellsi.mody
Feminine Groom, Model: Vedant Rao @oyevedant
Masculine Groom, Model: Ishan Matkar @ishanmatkar
Photography: Ajay Dhoke @unodkhi
Location courtesy: The Mody’s, Ghatkopar, Mumbai @dellsi.mody
Assistant Stylist: Bharvi Suthar @bharvi.suthar
