A Rohit Bal Scarf, Unzipped Leather Pants And Santu Misra's Take On Masculinity

There’s something about a camera that compels you to look, to really see. For Santu Misra, this relationship between the lens and the artist began when he was 19, having just been gifted a camera by his teacher.

He was shooting street style then, at fashion week, when it really wasn't as prominent as it is now. There were no rules, no set boundaries. He moved on, as we all do, from one thing to the next, away from photography and towards creative direction. Yet when he returned to photography again, almost 12 years later, it was not as a hobbyist or a dabbler. His teacher in London had taught him that if you want to own your work truly, you need to own the whole process. Misra took this advice seriously.

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“In the UK and the EU, the photographer owns the piece of art. So, I was like, 'Okay, if I’m going to put so much effort into my creative direction course and do my Master’s in it, I want to have more control'. I want to have a little more hold over the project. That’s when I began shooting with a little more intention,” he says.

He turned to the greats - Prabuddha Dasgupta, Jamie Hawkesworth, and the earlier works of Bharat Sikka. He began to understand his love for the craft and how seamlessly it merged with his love for fashion. Especially, men’s fashion, which he points out, has long been neglected in favour of women’s fashion. Here, Misra found space for exploration, documenting masculinity beyond the confines of tired tropes. He didn’t want to just shoot clothes; he wanted to capture identity - how clothes weren’t just worn but inhabited.

It was so heteronormative in the past, Misra believes. Now, people are more open to flaunting their sensual side. There has been a shift towards being sexy. A blurring of the lines between what is 'queer' and what is 'straight'. Everybody's wearing crop tops. Everybody's wearing leather pants. Things that were strictly queer cultural symbols are now being adopted, displayed and owned by straight-passing individuals. He's noticed that the art of documenting the male form has evolved, too. It has become more fluid.

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Misra's series, 'A Quick Afternoon Nap with Martin' echoes this cultural zeitgeist. His subject, model Martin Riedler, is showcased in a laid-back manner, lounging around in a bed. There is a languidness to the shoot, something comforting and relaxed. Effortless and intimate. The narrative explores how fashion can be incorporated into moments of stillness, rest, and even boredom, the 33-year-old explains.

“Martin was so comfortable and there wasn't any talk about whether he’s queer or I’m queer. He wore the clothes, I shot it, and that was that. He owned it. I think that ownership over the body and form is very much a part of fashion today - there’s no hesitation to own your sexuality,” Misra states.

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In one of the images, Riedler is lying shirtless on the bed, his leather pants tantalisingly unzipped. He's playing with a Rohit Bal silk scarf. Before that day, Riedler had never heard of Bal or how the late designer pushed the boundaries of men’s fashion. And yet, he truly owned that sexy piece of fabric the way Bal would have appreciated. “That, I think, is the everlasting power of fashion. That’s the Indian fashion industry’s gift to the world. It could be a small piece like a handkerchief or scarf, and it will have a moment everywhere, regardless of whether the people who wear them know about its historical importance,” he says.

Misra laughs as he imagines a future where someone finds the image and wonders how a guy in Paris interacted with a Rohit Bal scarf while wearing leather pants in 2025.

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“If we don’t document the present and leave behind an archive, it will be like now, when we miss things from the past because we don’t get to see them visually, you know? I want to create an archive that somebody in the future will look at and think, ‘Oh, there was this article about a French guy who didn’t know who Rohit Bal was, but he wore it in a way that’s so pleasing to the eye and so pleasing to this time that we're living in,’” Misra adds.

'A Quick Afternoon Nap with Martin' reinforces Misra’s belief that people are intrigued by personal spaces, no matter how chaotic or clean. “What does one’s bedroom look like? What kind of clothes do they wear? How do they make their bed? What does he eat? I feel like Salman Toor’s paintings really inspired my vision as a photographer, in that sense,” he says.

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And that’s how Misra documents Riedler in his personal space - on a messy bed, a crumpled checked comforter, white pillowcases contrasting with the deep blue wall, its texture like the ocean at dawn. A poster of Moonlight hangs on the wall. It's Ashton Sanders as Chiron, looking straight at the lens. At you.